Code Lyoko: Generation Two
by NoLight10
Summary: A lot can change in 20 years. One generation dies, and its offspring rises from its ashes, to capitalize on its achievements. In this new age, four new children adopt the mantle of Lyoko warriors, each one with their own skills and weaknesses to overcome. XANA has returned again, and each passing day brings him closer to the height of his power. Time is of the essence.
1. Chapter 1- A New Beginning

The morning sun broke across the horizon, bringing with it the warmth of an early autumn morning. The bird songs began to pick up as well, as did the sounds of early morning conversations, and the the sound of shoes against the gravel floor of the courtyard. The students were beginning to rise one by one, and one by one they filled out of the dormitories. Most students would follow this same routine throughout the school year, rising with the sun to make the most of their time before school truly began. Most of the students would follow this, but not all.

Arno made his way across the campus, following an old gravel pathway that led that wound its way through the park. He kept his hands in his pockets, and his head down. His dark blue jeans were weathered and worn, and his black hoodie was dusty. He had worn the same outfit for days, and he was rather intent on keeping his outfit together; it was the only bit of familiarity he'd have in this place for the next few weeks.

With his hood drawn above his head, he kept walking until he passed the iron gate, the entrance to Kadic Academy, and his home for the foreseeable future. Upon reaching the gate, he stopped for a moment, looking up, seeing the iron glow and shimmer under the light of the morning sun. He stayed for a moment, before bowing his head again, and moving on. He turned right, walking for a time before turning right again His path didn't really matter to him, not as long as he could find somewhere to be alone with his thoughts, outside of the campus grounds.

He kept his eyes on the sidewalk, listening to the humming of the occasional car as it passed by. The sound still set him on edge. He tried to keep his mind off of the sound, and on the day that was about to begin. He had classes to attend, people to meet, and a dorm room to set up. His thoughts drifted to the boxes of stuff that he probably would leave unpacked for a good few months, mementos from home, clothes both old and new, and whatever supplies his family had been willing to part with. Whether it was for him, or for them, he still wasn't sure.

He kept his eyes down. As long as he kept to the sidewalk, he'd eventually find his way back, or use the gutters and cracks as landmarks to find his way back to the campus.

Arno paused for a moment, looking up from his path, and towards the school that he'd call his home for the foreseeable future. He still wasn't sure what to make of it. He sighed, keeping his gaze on the buildings that peaked above the trees for a moment longer before returning to his walk, and lowering his eyes once again.

He'd lost track of his steps. The cracks and sewer drains had long since begun to blur together. With no destination in mind, he continued to walk forward, following the path of the sidewalk until it reached its end. It sloped into a curb, and a white crosswalk had been painted into the street. Almost instinctively, he looked up to watch for oncoming cars for a moment before crossing. His eyes scanned to the right, then to the left, and he froze.

Across the water, atop a sliver of land in the center of the river, a massive building stood. It clashed with the blue-amber sky with its dark concrete shell. Green vines stretched across the foundation, showing cracks and signs of wear that were visible even from across the river. Many of the windows that lined the top half of the building were still in one piece, although some had been broken long enough for birds to make their nests on the windowsills. A single bridge connected the island to the mainland at the island's center, but both ends had seemingly long since been barred off, and closed. Yet, the factory doors remained open, as if an invitation to explore the archaic structure. It was closed off from the world, most likely for a good reason.

"It's super cool, isn't it?" A voice snapped Arno out of his thoughts. He jumped, pulling his hands from his pockets, balling them up into fists. He turned to his left, and the source of the voice stood still as stone, as though he didn't even notice Arno's violent reaction. "It looks like it's been standing for decades, but all it's got is a few broken windows and some vines!" The boy belonged to a boy, although it was certainly higher than most boys of his apparent age. He was young, short, and thin, with a head of curly blond hair, and a pair of bottle glass spectacles sitting loosely on the bridge of his nose. He shuffled in place as he spoke, as if it were a chore to keep himself still. He was dressed as brightly as his mood, with a light blue longsleeve shirt, and light brown cargo pants with more pockets than it really needs (most of which looked as though they had been sewn on after they had been purchased).

Arno was taken aback by the stranger's presence, but said stranger was unaffected.

"Apparently it was an old car factory, before the cars it produced were outsourced. It's closed now but boy oh boy doesn't it look like it's begging to be explored?" The boy asked, almost dancing in place. Arno had no response, and wearily took a single step to his right. The boy was still unfazed by Arno's physical reactions, or the lack of a verbal response, and turned towards him as soon as he'd taken the step away. "I'm Jonah, by the way! Jonah Dunn!"

Arno didn't respond, taking a few steps across the crosswalk after looking out for oncoming traffic. For a few moments, Jonah simply remained still. It wasn't clear whether or not he had been at all affected by Arno's response (and lack thereof), but he had his suspicion that it wouldn't bother him.

After a few short seconds, however, Arno heard the sound of his shoes against the sidewalk again. They didn't approach his direction, instead moving across the street. For just a moment, he breathed a sigh of relief. This relief was cut short when he heard the jarring sound of two car horns blaring one after the other, each one coming from a different direction. Arno froze.

"Sorry, sorry!" He heard Jonah call out from across the street. This was quickly followed by the sound of a dull thud, and an exclamation of shock, but it wasn't long before Jonah's shoes were scratching against the pavement again, and getting more distant as the seconds dragged on. They were growing farther away from Arno, who quickly realized that there was only one direction they could be going now.

He shrugged it off, _he'll be ok_ , he thought to himself. The boy tripped again. Arno stopped in his tracks, closing his eyes and cursing his luck. With little more hesitation, he turned about, and looked down the street before walking across, and following Jonah towards the open doors of the factory.

Arno stepped through the yawning doorway, into the long corridor that stretched on for nearly half of the factory's length. They were on the second level of the building, a concrete walkway that wrapped around the interior of the factory, about 15 meters or so above the ground. Large steel beams were equally spaced around the walkway for support, piercing the ceiling and floor to keep it suspended. There wasn't much noteworthy about the interior, with the exception of a large freight elevator that sat just to the right of the entrance, at the bottom of the lower floor, and a pair of flimsy ropes dangled from one of the support beams above them.

Jonah was on his hands and knees, peering down at the lower level with his hands resting on the edge of the walkway. He still wore the same look of excitement and fearlessness on his face.

"Look at this place!" Jonah exclaimed, turning back to Arno with a wide toothy smile, "Isn't this place the greatest? Who knows what we'll find here, a million dollars, old machines, a dead body?!" He pushed himself up off of the ground, dusting his knees as he did so. "And look, we can use these ropes to get down!" He took a few steps to the side, pointing up towards the dusty ropes that hung from the beams above them. Before he could reach out to grab them, as he leaning forward to do, Arno gripped his shoulder and pulled him back.

"Wait." He ordered, reaching forward himself and tugging at one of the ropes with a tight grip. A cloud of dust was expelled from the folds of the rope, and the top began to fray outward. "These ropes are flimsy, they must've been here for years."

"Well, we'll find another way to get down then!" Said Jonah, immediately looking around for a different route to take. Arno stayed with the ropes, looking over them with a weary gaze.

"These ropes." He started, taking one of them into his hands, turning them over gently. "They look as though they haven't been touched in ages. But why would they need rope like this in an abandoned factory? Didn't you say that this place used to be a car factory?" He looked around, waiting for a response from Jonah, who was nowhere to be found. "Jonah?" He called.

"Down here!" The boy called up from below, waving to Arno as he peered over the edge of the catwalk. "There's a small ramp over to your left, on the wall-side of the walkway. Come on down and look at this elevator with me!"

"I can't watch over you forever kid, I have somewhere I need to be." Said Arno, but Jonah was already out of sight, and it was unclear if he would've listened either way. With a quick and shallow sigh, Arno took a few steps to his left, seeing the small ramp that Jonah spoke of just a few meters ahead. If he hadn't been looking for it, he might not have even seen it.

By the time he reached the bottom floor, Jonah was already almost done examining the freight elevator. Compared to the rest of the building, it looked almost discolored. The inside was a painted in a dulled shade of gold, tainted with green rust. There was a singular vent sitting in the ceiling, and a keypad on the inside of the car, just to the left of the open door. Besides that, or even including that, there was nothing worthy of note about it.

"I wonder where this thing even goes." Jonah pondered aloud, more to himself than to Arno. "There's a keypad on the inside, maybe you need a special code to get to the lower floors?" He stepped into the box, looking over the worn keypad for any clue as to what the combination could be. As he searched, Arno looked around the car himself. The cables looked just as ancient as the support beams that held the elevator in place. They were rusted and worn down with years of use, but they still looked sturdy enough to function for years to come.

""This is so cool!" Jonah cried out, stepping out of the elevator with a skip in his step. "I never imagined finding a cool place like this!"

"Yeah." Arno agreed, poking his head into the car. He looked around for nothing in particular for a moment before stepping back out, and away. "This place is pretty old. I imagine most of anything we're going to find here isn't operational anymore."

"Yeah but what if it is?"

"Then that's not encouraging." He quickly replied. The entire building felt almost haunting to Arno, a fact that he wasn't hesitant to share, although his intuition was no match for Jonah's sense of discovery. He looked to his left, where the young boy once stood, only to find him already halfway down the main chamber's walkway. "Hey, Jonah, where are you going?" He called out, turning to follow him.

"This is a factory! What, you think there's just one room and that's it? There still so much more to be discovered!" Jonah responded, not even turning away from his path. Arno sighed, and quickened his pace. The sooner Jonah found a reason to leave, the sooner he could as well. He pulled a black flip phone from his pocket as he caught up with Jonah. The time read 0730. School would begin in an hour, and the first meeting of the school year would start half an hour before that. An entire morning, spent babysitting someone with no evident sense of fear.

As Arno finally caught up with Jonah, he saw exactly where he was headed: a dull green door was embedded in the wall, almost out of sight, at the very end of the factory, hidden away in the corner behind one of the few concrete beams placed between the steel supports.

"See? I told you there would be more!" Jonah excitedly pointed at the door with a wagging finger.

"I never doubted you. I just wish you were wrong." Replied the disgruntled Arno beneath his breath.

"Really? You don't think this is exciting?"

"There are just other things I wish I had done with my morning."

"Things other than exploring an archaic facility? What do you do for fun?" Before an answer could be given, Jonah pulled open the door, and stepped inside, followed closely by his reluctant protector.

The door led into a room full of machines. They hung from the ceiling, hovering above a long conveyor belt that wound around the room. Old pieces of machinery still littered the idle black belt, and the tools that once worked with these parts were now motionless, in a way that looked as though they could spring to life at any moment. In fact, it almost looked as though they had before. Arno approached the arms, which still bore what seemed to be their original silver plating. They were significantly more polished than the rest of the machines and metal they had found in the factory.

Rather than dwell on this fact, Jonah seemed much more interested in the fact that there was still machines that existed at all. Although he was just tall enough to reach onto the belt without much difficulty, he opted to sit on the edge of the belt, and fiddle with an old bit metal, with a few wires sprouting from the piece.

"Hey, hey you! Look what I found!" Jonah called out, waving his newfound discovery in the air with a bright smile.

"It looks like an old machine part. What it was supposed to be is anybody's guess." Arno walked over, picking up a piece of his own, and turning it about in his fingers. "I wonder why it's still here." He thought aloud to himself. "These things have been here for years. Why has nobody come and picked -any- of this stuff up?" He looked up from the years old artifact, towards the end of the room. Opposite from where they'd come from, there was a large stairway that led down to a lower level, one that led to a landing platform. He walked forward, down the stairs, and onto the platform. It led to more stairs, but these led to an actual floor, a room with a layout not to dissimilar from the one he just left. From what Arno could see, there wasn't anything too special down there. Short structures of small beams and pipes littered the floor, and stout concrete beams supported the ceiling above them. Almost without thinking, Arno stepped away from the conveyer belt, and towards the wide stairway.

He reached the bottom of the stairs before Jonah caught up to him.

"Hey, did you find something?" Asked Jonah, before reaching the bottom step. Upon doing so, his mouth opened wide in awe and excitement. "Whoa!" He cried out, his hands splayed out at his sides, "This looks like a jungle gym! I love those things!" He began to race forward, arms preparing to grab at the pipes. Arno quickly grabbed him.

"Hey!" He shouted, in a mix of frustration and fear. He shoved Jonah back enough to get him away from the pipes, and tugged on them as he had done with the ropes in the main chamber. With a single tug, he tore one of the horizontal beams from its place. Both he and Jonah stared for a moment before their gazes met. "Do you ever think before you act, kid?"

"Only on my bad days." He responded with a sheepish grin. "But look!" He reached out, pulling on a vertical pipe in a similar manner to Arno. Instead of pulling out a single beam, however, the entire structure began to collapse. Jonah quickly stepped back in shock, but Arno pulled him over, shielding him as the brass structure topped over, bashing him with a few pieces of the falling debris.

When the noise finally subsided, they each looked towards the rubble that had most likely once been structurally sound. After a moment of staring, Arno once again glared at Jonah with one hand still on his shoulder. Jonah, still bearing the piece he'd collected, wore shock on his face for a second before turning with a shy grin to Arno, who watched him with building frustration. Arno released him, and snatched the pipe from his hands, before standing up straight and moving on with a huff. Jonah was quick to follow, but remained rather quiet.

The two walked through the room, finding larger and more sturdy structures. There were catwalks above them as well, as well as pulleys that hung from the roof, and above these more sturdy constructions. They walked in silence, observing, although cautious of touching or moving anything. Even Jonah seemed visibly aware of danger at this point, although not enough to dissuade him from getting close to everything. This corridor ended quickly, with another door, and upon opening it, The two were met with yet another hallway. This room was empty, with nothing but a flimsy metal staircase leading down to the floor, just about half a meter below the door.

Arno walked down the steps, while Jonah leapt from the top stair to the floor. The room held nothing of real interest, nothing besides a hole in the far side of the room.

At first, there was very little to keep them there. In fact, with a single glance towards each other, they had made an unspoken agreement to return to the previous room. Only when Jonah had rushed up the stairs, did Arno turn back, with one foot on the first step. He stared into the darkness of the room, towards the hole on the far side. It wasn't too small, just over two thirds of his height. In a factory like this, what purpose did it have? Water runoff? He looked down at the floor. It was sloped, just barely enough to notice, but runoff wouldn't constitute a hole of that size. He stepped down, squinting his eyes to see through the dark. After a few moments, his eyes were finally able to focus, and he caught sight of a faint green glow. It was just barely visible, almost entirely overpowered by the darkness around it. If it were any weaker, he might not have seen it at all.

Arno stepped off of the stair, prompting Jonah to turn and follow him, as he took gentle steps towards the light.

"Hey, what do you see?" Jonah called after him, stomping down the steps. Arno didn't respond, instead, crouching down as he got closer. On his hands and knees, and approached the gap, and upon reaching the light, he was able to see its source.

"What the hell...?" He breathed.

The room was softly glowing with the same light that had called him over, one that struggled to reach the four corners of the room. The center of the room had the brightest glow, being the source of the light in the first place. A sort of projector sat in the middle of the room, raised off of the ground like a mechanical mesa. Two rings sat around it, one above, and one below. The ring surrounding it was home to a single large chair, set on a swivel, and seemingly free to move around the lower ring. Above it, however, was a sort of circular frame that hung from where Arno sat. It was comprised of a larger ring, that connected to a smaller circle through curved beams that bent inward. Resting on those, however, was the center of Arno's attention. He stared intently at this machine, a long mechanical arm bearing three or four computer monitors. All of them were off, yet the light at the center of the room still glowed. The entire room had an eerie feel about it, as though the computers and machines could spring to life at any moment. It sent shivers down Arno's spine.

"Nothing." He finally, pulling himself out of the hole in the wall. "Let's go."

"That was a lot of time spent looking for it to just be nothing." Jonah commented as arno turned to leave the room. He seemed hesitant to leave, but he followed anyways. "What was the light?"

"I donno. Maybe a small chemical spill. Either way we're better off not going down there." He reached the stairs to the door, and held it open for himself and Jonah as they passed through.

"Well, this was fun! I like this place, we should come here again sometime, there's got to be more to this place!" Arno caught the door before it closed, peering past the darkness, towards the strange green light.

"Yeah. I'm sure there is." He let go, and the door closed with a click.

"I can't believe you go to Kadic as well! That really is some coinkydink." Arno leaned against the brick wall that surrounded the old vending machine, struggling to keep himself anchored to reality. The images of that computer in the depths of the factory still haunted and intrigued him, and only Jonah (and his incessant conversations) kept him from drifting back into his thoughts.

"Mhm." Arno mumbled in response, looking through the options that the vending machine had to offer.

"Do you have your schedule yet?"

"Not yet."

"I do. I think I'm going to like my class lineup this year! I have a couple of science classes, english, lunch-"

'Right."

"And P.E.! English is going to be really easy though, it's my first language actually! Did you know that? I bet you thought that French was my first language, since I speak it so well!"

"Hm." Arno tapped one of the vending machine buttons, labeled "hot chocolate" with old making tape.

"So english is going to be super easy. You speak french pretty good too! Is it your first language?"

"No." The liquid dispensed into a cup, the steam quickly rising up towards Arno, who leaned in to catch its scent. It did not smell like hot chocolate.

"Really? What was your first language then?"

"Urdu. A bit of english." He replied, lifting the cup half full of the strange liquid. He scrunched his nose upon catching the scent again. It somehow smelled worse than it did before.

"Oh that's so cool! So what brings you here? Are you a transfer student too?"

"No." He lifted the cup to his mouth, cooling it down a bit before taking a sip of the drink, and immediately coughing it back up while he handed the cup to Jonah, who continued to talk all the while. The liquid, while not scalding, still burnt his tongue, and he had a feeling the burning was more from the rancid taste than the temperature.

"Hey, don't we have some sort of assembly before school today?"

"Yeah, we do." Arno spat the vile liquid out, onto the gravel. "It starts in about 10 minutes. I think."

"We should start for the gym then! Let's find our place before everybody else gets there!" Jonah took a few steps away from the machine, facing Arno and waving him over. "The early bird gets the worm!"

"No," Said Arno, waving him off, "I have to grab a few things from my dorm first. I'll be there soon."

"Oh, alright. I'll see you there then!" Jonah took off with a skip in his step, and Arno watched him until he was hidden from view, past the administrative building. He waited for a minute, watching, almost expecting him to pop out from behind the buildings again. He never did, and Arno breathed a sigh of relief. For the moment, he allowed himself to absorb the peace and quiet. Compared to the constant chattering of Jonah, the distant whispers of conversations that reached his ears barely bothered him.

He waited for longer, watching as more and more students began to make their way to the gym. Eventually, he decided to walk there as well. He took one step, then stopped. After a moment's pause, he lifted his hands up to his hood, and dragged it off of his head. His face met sunlight for the first time in what felt like a month. His light brown skin was knicked with old scars along his forehead and left cheek, his dark eyes were almost hollow and his curly hair was disheveled, and cut unevenly. He quickly debated with himself if he should put his hood back on, but decided against it. Taking note of the looks he received, he made his way to the gym after the other students.

The gym had been transformed into an assembly room for the morning. Row after row of chairs had been set out, and commemorative streamers and banners lined the walls. The stage was set for the principal to speak, and for the students to remain silent. When Arno had found the seat that would suit him, one in the back corner away from prying eyes, he sat down, and tried to relax.

"Hey there!" Came a voice from his left. Arno closed his eyes and sighed.

"Hello Jonah." He replied flatly, not even turning his head to the boy who had seemingly popped up out of nowhere.

"Did you find what you needed to get from your dorm? You got it pretty fast!"

"Yeah, I found it."

"Awesome! Today is going to be a great day, I can already tell!" Arno didn't respond, his eyes attaching to a figure who climbed the stairs that led to the stage. He was elderly, walking with a cane with one hand shoved into his pocket. He wore a dark brown sweatshirt with white diamond patterns above a white collared button down shirt. His hair had long since begun to turn grey, with large splotches intermixed with brown, held above his head by a sort of white bandana.

"I think the assembly is starting." Arno noted, as the man approached the microphone. He tapped it, sending feedback through the speakers, but then rested his free hand on the microphone stand.

"Uh, testing, testing." He growled into the mic. "Is this thing on?" The audience murmured an affirmative response. "Alright, good." He coughed into his sleeve. "Now then, I don't want to hear a peep out of you youngsters while the principal is talking, you hear? I might be old, but that doesn't mean anything." He then lifted his cane from stage, waving it in the air for a few seconds before putting it back down. "I've been the groundskeeper for Kadic for almost 30 years now, and that's not going to change anytime soon. So if any of you troublemakers start getting smart with the rules, you'll answer to me." Some of the students laughed, others didn't even seem to care, although the laughter didn't go unnoticed. "Oh laugh it up, go ahead. But we'll see who's laughing when half of you go to detention for the first week of school!"

Before he could continue, another figure walked onto the stage. She was taller, and much slimmer than the man who stood at the mic. She wore a black suit and tie over a white button down shirt, and a draped skirt that fell to her feet. Her auburn hair reached to the middle of her back, held back by a black hairband. Her demeanor was warm, inviting even, and she walked towards the man, her heels clicking with each step. She tapped him on the shoulder, and spoke to him in a hushed voice, ushering him gently away from the mic. When he had taken a few steps away, she took his place, and removed the device from its stand.

"Welcome, everyone, to Kadic Academy!" She announced. "To those who haven't been here before, my name is Elisabeth, and I am the principle of Kadic Academy. I bid all of you, both old and new, a warm welcome to this place of learning. Here, you will not only learn more about the world around you, math, science, writing and art, but you will also learn more about yourselves, and those around you. This life is a journey, and I'm excited to see how all of you grow and mature throughout this walk of life."

She continued to walk, and Arno looked around. Many of the students looked excited, others looked weary and tired. As she spoke, he could no longer keep himself out of his thoughts. That computer, that room, that factory. His stomach twisted. He had to know more. Something like that couldn't be ignored for long.

He looked to his left, where Jonah sat, swinging his legs back and forth with a smile on his face. Perhaps he could evade his attention after school today, at least for long enough for him to sneak away. Then and there, it was decided. After school ended, he would wait to make sure that he wouldn't be followed, and he would return to the factory once again.

End of Part One

Author's notes: I'm going to have one of these after almost every story for these first few parts, and then more throughout the length of the rest of the story. If you couldn't tell, this story will be considerably darker than the original. There will be cursing throughout, there will be some pretty dark themes throughout, and there will be some actual character development as well. That means no love drama for four whole seasons as if you didn't just learn the importance of communication and transparency two episodes ago. It will start off tame, but nearing the end of the story, it will get darker. I'm already working on part two, and hopefully, that'll be out sometime soon. Maybe sometime this week if work doesn't completely overwhelm me.

I'm going to drop this link here as well: /BlueWing10

This is a donation link for any of you kind souls who would like to gift me a few pennies from time to time, (although donations of $10,000 aren't going to go unappreciated, just throwing that out there) because bills are tough, rent is tough, and I require food to live. Mainly wattaburger. That's my comfort food right there. The donations will be used to help fund the following:

A) my livelihood. (?)

B) my personal projects that I would love to continue to work on.

C) Food. And lots of it. I'm a hungry boy.

Also, leave a comment if you liked it! It'll probably start off a bit slow, but once things pick up, _they will pick the hell up._ Honestly, comments and likes and votes are going to help keep me motivated for when I lose confidence in my abilities, or when the real world gets me down, so don't hesitate to comment! And remember, for my stories, and all others, keep the criticism constructive, like Torbjorn before his inevitable rework.

Most author notes won't be this long, but since this is the first story, I wanted y'all to get a glimpse into the personality that'll hopefully be entertaining you with these stories for years to come. I hope you enjoyed reading, and enjoy your day.

P.S.- the cover is a work in progress. That's just a placeholder, but hey, if any of y'all artistic type like my work and feel like making a cool cover for me, hit me up yo.

/BlueWing10


	2. Chapter 2- The Old Factory

Each minute of the day had crawled by at a snail's pace, and most of them were spent staring out of windows, or pretending to listen to whatever lecture had been prepared for the day. Arno had to fight to keep himself interested in what was going on, but that was far more of a struggle today, knowing about that old factory on the river. His thoughts continued to drift, and what he'd seen before seemed to be the only mental anchor he could conceive. These thoughts of what it was and what it was doing there helped to pass the time, but he could feel a pit in his stomach growing. It was a familiar feeling of apprehension, one that clung to his insides, digging its claws only deep enough to be noticed, but it was familiar enough that it could be ignored. The day did eventually end, after hours of struggling to keep his thoughts in one line, and Arno was free for the remainder of the day.

He spent about an hour or so in his dorm, waiting, thinking, wondering what exactly he was going to find in those depths. The gnawing feeling surged up once again, and Arno shoved it back down. He sat with his back up against his floor mattress, hands shoved in his pockets with his head still shoved into his hood. There was still some light that graced the room, mostly comprised of still-packed boxes, but the single window at the head of the room had been lazily covered with a blackout-curtain, tacked up only by a few pins. It was the only thing that properly distinguished his room from a storage compartment.

He waited, listening to the crowds outside his window, the students gathered in the courtyard to hang out or talk. He waited, hearing the voices dissipate and the crowds fade away. When the sounds and voices from the courtyard faded away, he pulled his worn flip phone from his jacket pocket. The time read 5:40. Arno could slip out of the gates, visit the old factory, and be back before lights out. With his time limit in mind, he pushed himself up off of the floor, and slipped out of his room.

The grounds were very sparsely populated. Most of those who were out at this hour were either starting the walk back to their dorm, or leaving the campus altogether. Arno scanned each individual, and thankfully, found no sign of Jonah. Through the main gates, and over the sidewalk he traveled, constantly moving his gaze about, trying to avoid any other such, his walk was uneventful. Past the gates, he saw no more than two people, neither of them taking any notice of him, or his path, as he quickly closed in on the factory that had consumed his daily thoughts.

He was very quickly drawing closer, and as the building began to loom far above his head, he felt that same feeling try to rise up once again. He swallowed it back down, and stood on the overshadowed bridge the led to the old building's gaping maw. Arno took one last look over the front of the structure, before turning back to the doors, and stepping inside.

Everything was the exactly the same as it had been before, as though the interior of the factory broke time itself. Arno made his way through the central room, and down to the same door he'd gone through before. Everything was exactly the same as it was yesterday, but now each rusted pipe and broken stone held an air of mystery. This old place was years older than he was, yet the machine he'd found in the core was more advanced than anything he'd ever seen before. Not that Arno had ever been exposed to much advanced tech before, but he'd heard of and seen fascinating things in the past. Seeing such a construction in person felt almost unreal.

His thoughts returned to him, and he was walking through the pipe room. Looking to his left, he found that the structure Jonah had toppled yesterday had remained perfectly still. He stopped for a moment, eyes locked onto the mess of pipes and beams. His walk only continued after collecting one of them for himself, gripping it tight enough to hold, loose enough to swing.

For the most part, his feelings were easy enough to pushy back down. Fear, anxiety, they were familiar to the point of being ignorable. What he wasn't prepared for, however, was shock when the silence was ruptured suddenly and excitedly.

"Hello there!" Cried a voice from behind him. In the back of his mind he knew the voice was a familiar one, but his body acted before he could even process what he was doing. His torso spun around, his arms raised the pipe to eye level like a spear, and he came face to face with a rather oblivious Jonah Dunn. In the sudden mix of feelings that rose to his chest, he couldn't tell whether he was more furious or relieved.

"Hello there." He replied flatly though locked teeth as he lowered his makeshift weapon. "Next time you walk up behind someone in absolute silence, would you mind **not** shouting?" He let his pipe fall to his side. "In fact, what are you even doing here? Shouldn't you be home?"

"I have a dorm here." Jonah corrected.

"Right, I'm sorry," Arno groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, "let me amend my question: shouldn't you be back in your dorm?"

"Well sure, if I wanted to miss out on more exploration of this place! I don't know if you noticed or not, but this place is awesome!" Jonah's excitement was worn all over, emphasized by the small movements of his legs as he spoke, and walked forward gleefully, as though he were set to run off at any moment. At this point, Arno considered it a possibility.

"Kid, this place is dangerous."

"Then why are you here?"

"I-" Arno sighed in frustration, his face twisting into a scowl. "Because I'm not just poking around with things I don't understand. I know when to quit."

"Well I can do that too! I know when to quit!"

"The incident yesterday with the pipes proves otherwise."

The boy huffed in response, taking a few large strides to get ahead.

"Oh come on! That was only one time!"

"It was yesterday. And there really only needs to be one time for you to get injured."

"What if I promise to be careful?"

"Are you actually going to be careful?" The young boy opened his mouth to respond, but quickly closed it, hesitating.

"I... can try?" His meek response was coupled with a nervous shrug, both of which only served to further agitate his companion, although he managed to stop himself from showing it. Instead, he knelt down to just below eye level with Jonah, and as gently as he could, laid his free hand on his shoulder.

"Look, Jonah, we both already know that this place isn't safe, and that you aren't the most careful person. Wouldn't it make more sense to explore the rooms above here, somewhere we haven't explored, and somewhere that's probably a lot safer than anything down here?"

Jonah seemed unsure for a moment, but something promptly clicked in his head, and he gave a short nod.

"Alright! But you gotta call me down if you find anything, alright?" In standard fashion, the boy left without waiting for a response, leaving Arno alone in the room. Part of him almost expected him to reappear after a few seconds, but he never did. He was alone again, and he didn't know for how much longer. He turned back towards his destination, the little room at the very end of the hallway. His first few steps were slow, and then his pace quickened. He didn't know how much time he had to spare, and he wasn't planning on letting any of it go to waste.

He followed the path he'd taken earlier that same day through the cobwebbed hall. The eerie feeling that was carried by the wear and tear was only made more intense by the existence of the supercomputer beneath his feet. He was able to ignore most of the feelings that crept through the back of his mind, although small worries and anxieties were able to slow his pace. He still had no idea what this thing was, what it was capable of. For all he knew, it was some sort of doomsday device, maybe the home to some long dormant malicious AI. Or it could simply be the highly advanced control center for the factory. One by one, each thought was tossed aside with a few shakes of his head. He wouldn't know until he'd checked it out, and chances are he still wouldn't know even after checking it out.

He finally reached the door, now the only thing separating him from the computer. He pushed it open, stepped inside, and glided down the short stairwell onto the slanted concrete floor. He took a deep breath, and kept going. Each step he took was soft, as though he were afraid one misstep would wake something up. As such, his descent was slow, uneasy, but he at last made it to the gap that opened up into the computer room.

Everything was just as he had seen it before. The circular ring holding the hardware in place, the central platform, and the room was still alight with the same shade that had haunted that day's daydreams. Despite feeling as though he could stare forever, Arno emerged into the room. He took note of the steel bars embedded into the wall to the left of his perch, and used them to make his way down to the floor.

The room looked nearly twice as big from the ground as it had from the ceiling. The lifeless steel loomed over his head, ominous and threatening despite the layers of dust accumulated over the years. From where he stood, the chair had its back to him, and the mechanical arm that held up four empty computer monitors hung to the side of the central projector. He waited for a moment, taking in the silence. The air felt thicker here; his hairs stood on their ends. His hands reached up to his hood, and it was flipped over his head in a single motion. He took in another breath, and eased himself forward, staying slightly lower to the ground. He gripped tightly to the pipe with both hands, looking around in an attempt to figure out what this machine was, what it could've been used for.

He walked past the chair, taking a quick glance at the computer monitors before his attention was drawn to a journal that sat in the chair. It was old, dusty, bound by leather now broken and cracked.

Lowering his defensive stance, Arno gingerly slid his hand beneath the old journal, lifting it up to get a better look at it. There was no inscription or design on the front or back, just a collection of thin papers and notes sticking out from between the pages. He sat the pipe down against the side of the chair, using both hands to hold the journal open. Page after page was filled with lines of chode, characters and symbols he couldn't recognize. Equations, theories, code, filling up almost every line of every page, cover to cover.

"What is this?" Arno muttered to himself, slowly thumbing through the pages, the corners of which had been yellowed, first by usage, then by time. Despite all of the information held within the pages, however, he quickly discovered that he wasn't able to properly decipher any of it. Even if he had been able to, he couldn't seem to find any sort of power switch on the computer, on which those codes would more than likely be more useful. The book was returned to its place of rest, the pipe was picked up, and he continued his search for answers; a search that was cut short almost immediately after the book had been laid back down. A shrill noise ruptured the silence, a noise that was startling, and just as frustrating as it was familiar.

"Oh my god, look at this!" Arno attempted to stifle any immediate screams of frustration or fear that rose to his throat, and a low growl was pushed through clenched teeth.

"Hello, Jonah." He muttered, almost hoping that Jonah could hear the malice trapped behind his teeth. Of course, he couldn't.

"Hi!" The young boy called back, almost leaping down the length of the ladder to reach the ground. "How did you manage to find this place? This is awesome! How long have you been there?" Jonah's questions were slowly drowned out by the sound of defeated sighs and internal screaming.

"Luck, yes, a couple minutes, I don't know," He answered the questions all at once as he turned to face the newcomer, "Didn't I tell you to go explore the upper level? The places that weren't as dangerous?"

"Well, I mean, yeah," he replied with a slight shrug, "but if I had stayed up there, I wouldn't have found this place! And just look at this!" He moved past Arno, lifting his arms and gesturing to everything around him. "This place is incredible! Have you ever seen anything like it?!" Before any response could be offered, Jonah's attention turned to the computer monitors, then to the chair, and the very quickly to the book.

"Wait, hold on, be careful with that book! It almost looks like it's been here longer than everything else!" Arno called out to Jonah, who shrugged off the warning.

"I can be careful! This isn't my first time holding delicate things."

"Just leave it by Jonah, that thing looks like it's ready to-" The book was lifted off of the seat, and Arno flinched, half expecting it to fall apart in the boys hands. Although it seems as though he were right this time, and he handled the book with care, and interest.

"Whoa." He said to himself, almost under his breath. The corners of his mouth slowly bent upwards into a wide smile. "Well look at this! This is an amalgamation of different coding languages! Cryptol, Neko, C++ and Java, this book is a landmine!"

"Goldmine," Arno corrected, before performing a quick double take. "Wait, what? You can read that?"

"Of course I can! This is all code, written in various forms of coding languages. It's not really any language I've seen before, but it looks like it took bits and pieces from a bunch of different ones."

"Do you... do you KNOW computer code?" Jonah looked up, and still wearing that smile, shook his head rather vigorously.

"Nope!" He looked back down at the book, continuing to look through the pages. "I mean, my dad was, and he was a pretty good one too! I never really managed to get as far as he did, but I think that if I look over this for a couple of days, I might be able to figure out how this works!"

Stunned disbelief was all that Arno could display as he watched Jonah try to make sense of the pages.

"How can you even-"

"It's really not that hard. I could teach you if you'd like!" He shook his head before even processing the request.

"No. But-" On the one hand, having the boy take the journal home could allow them to use the computer. On the other hand, having the boy take the journal home could allow him to use to the computer. Both options were considered, and both were deemed... shaky at best. "Look, let's just leave that thing here, alright? Exploring is one thing, but I don't think we should take anything from here."

"Why not? This place doesn't look like it's used very often. And if it was in use, don't you think this place would be hidden a bit better?" Jonah, journal still in hand, moved forward towards a large rectangular door that lay sealed on the other side of the room. It was mostly silver and grey, with black and white cautionary bars on the top and bottom, two golden triangular shapes on the sides, and a centerpiece of the same color in the center. Just to the left of the door was an old red button.

"Don't." Arno warned as Jonah nonchalantly waltzed up to the button, and clicked it without much thought.

"What? You said it yourself, exploring is one thing."

"The minute you try to turn something on, you're not 'exploring' anymore." He sighed, knowing that his words wouldn't do much to deter his younger companion from doing anything. In fact, they more than likely simply encouraged him instead. Nonetheless, he followed him as mechanical noises began sounded off from behind the door, coming from somewhere above them. They each looked on as the sounds drew lower to the ground, closer to them. After a few moments, the sounds ceased, the door began to move. The two black and yellow beams at the top were drawn back, and the center disk began to move, as though it were unwinding. The door split diagonally, from the top right corner to the bottom left. As the pieces of the door moved apart, they revealed the same elevator car they had seen earlier that day.

"Well, I guess we could've saved a bit of time by using this thing, couldn't we?" Jonah offered. Arno moved forward without a response. "Alright, I'll take that as a maybe." They both stepped onto the elevator, examining it from top to bottom. For the most part, it all looked the same, with one exception; one that Jonah found first. "Hey look at this!" He cried out. The key pad looked as though it had been jostled by the movement of the car, and wires could be seen poking out from the sides. He gripped the keypad, and moved it away, much to the dismay of his companion, who flinched at his recklessness.

"Are you just going to break everything that you see?" He sighed.

"Only the things that need breaking. It looks like the keypad was an afterthought, there are just buttons for up and down here!"

"Good. Maybe one of those buttons can bring us back up."

"Or better yet, even further down!"

"Sure- wait, NO!" Jonah pressed the button faster than Arno could pull him away, and the car shuddered for a moment. It then began to descend, carrying the two of them down deeper into the factory.

The few seconds that the elevator took to reach the bottom felt as though they spanned entire minutes of time. The tram shook and shuddered as the rusted wires slowly dropped them further and further, and all the while Arno's expression towards Jonah was souring more and more.

"If you push any more buttons Jonah, I swear-" He was cut short, both by his own hesitation to threaten the boy, and the sudden halt of the elevator. After a moment's breath, the doors slid open, revealing a large room far more foreign and alien than the room from before.

Before the two boys, was a room unlike anything they'd seen before. The first thing that struck them as odd, was the fact that it was empty; no sign of construction equipment or computer hardware anywhere to be seen. Even the smaller details of the room, like the golden hoop at its ceiling and the mismatched paint job on the walls had a haunting aura about them. Something about this room was enough to send a shiver up Arno's spine, like the soft caress of a ghost. He hung back, exploring the room with his eyes, as to not upset whatever force kept this room so silent. Jonah, of course, felt so such emotion, and marched right past the doors with sparkling eyes, clutching the journal to his chest. With his mouth agape.

"Jonah, no!" Arno hissed through gritted teeth. "What are you doing?!"

"I'm exploring!" He sang back to Arno, who nervously stepped out of the doorway, following Jonah with shakey steps.

"You're an idiot!" Arno snapped back. "Come on, let's go back!"

"Why?" Jonah stopped, for what felt like the first time. "This place looks so cool, it's like it stepped out of a sci-fi novel!"

"Yeah, that's why I say we should leave!" His tone only rose in volume and frustration as Jonah took a few carefree steps backwards, towards the center of the room. "Either we leave now, or I leave you behind before you activate-" A loud thud filled the room, coming from its center, and was quickly followed by the scraping of metal on metal. "...something." Arno's, and shortly after, Jonah's, attentions were both drawn to the source of the noise; a metal place with a strange insignia painted on its center; two circles, one outside the other with a large dot painted at the cert center, with four lines jutting from the outer shape, three along the bottom, and one at the top. It quickly split apart, separating into three different plates that slid into some unseen cavity, while a large pillar emerged from the new space. It was mainly a dull grey, but sections of this new shape were glowing a shade of gold that faded in and out of an orange hue, almost as though this machine was beating like a heart. As the pillar rose to its full height, another shape, similar in color but much wider, rose in turn, until this new machine was level with the two boys' knees, while the tall spire at its center was far above their heads. With a sudden and jarring hiss, the machine came to a halt, and the silence of the room was replaced with the hum of a computer

Arno, and for once Jonah as well, were both stunned into silence. Arno moved back with unsteady steps, hissing and snapping at Jonah to retreat to the elevator, but the boy's eyes were wide with shock, and completely absent of fear.

"Oh, my, god." He said slowly, each space between the words long enough for a full breath. He then broke into a wide smile, and even took a step towards the unfamiliar machine as his eyes fell down to a large switch at the base of the computer. The moment Jonah had spotted it, Arno had seen it as well, and stepped out of the safety of the elevator to stop him. With a few swift steps, he placed himself between Jonah, and the lever.

"NO." He barked, harsh and loud enough to stop and startle the overeager child. Arno recoiled at his own tone, and softened it with his next words. "Jonah, we don't know what that thing does. For once, can you please not touch it?" The boy looked past Arno, eyeing the lever with an expression of intense curiosity, which lasted for a good few seconds before he gave a relenting sigh.

"Alright, I'm sorry." He answered at last. Arno exhaled all the breath he had left in relief, but quickly recomposed himself.

"Good. Then go." He shot a finger to the elevator, and Jonah followed the instruction after a moment's hesitation, boarding the elevator to leave the room.

As the doors closed, they saw the pillar at the center of the room slowly lower back into the floor, as both the hum, and the golden lights, die down. Whatever that room was, whatever that machine was, it wasn't going to leave their heads anytime soon.

"I don't know, Jonah!" Arno's agitation was growing more apparent after each question Jonah had asked him. He didn't know what the room was for, he didn't know why it was there, he didn't know how long it had been there, and he didn't know if they would ever go back. For reasons beyond him, Arno had made Jonah promise that he wouldn't go back with him. At the time, this was so that he could potentially keep Jonah from going back at all, but he had a hard time convincing himself of that. He was curious about everything that he'd seen, from the room, to the computer, to that machine on the bottom floor. It was the kind of curiosity that would eat away at him over the next few weeks, until he went back, hopefully without Jonah in tow, although he doubted if that were possible. Even if he snuck out in the dead of night, the boy would probably still find a way to surprise Arno.

The two of them had walked out of the factory, across the road, and back to the brick wall that separated Kadic from the rest of the world. Along the way, Jonah had stuffed the notebook back into his backpack, and the two had agreed that they shouldn't tell anyone about what they'd seen: Or rather, Arno had said that shouldn't tell a soul, and hoped that Jonah had both been listening, and agreeing.

It was about 7:00 pm by the time they'd gotten back to the campus, and at that time dinner was already done. Most of the students were finding their way back to their dorms, while others were wandering about making friends or gathering in their little cliques.

"Remember." Arno whispered to Jonah. "Don't, tell, a soul."

"You mean about the factory?" Jonah asked. Arno took a quick breath in and turned to Jonah with a scowl. "Yes! Look, just don't tell anybody, got it?" Jonah sealed his lips, then dragged two fingers across them before making a flicking motion, and muffling a few words through closed lips. Arno didn't know when they would be going back, but if the anticipation he felt in his stomach was anything to tell by, then they would be going back sooner, rather than later.

Arno wasn't certain if he was more excited, or nervous.

Authors Note

I promise I'll try to have these out as frequently as I can. I know it's been a year since my last upload, and if you guys want I'll update you on what's happening.

The last time I worked on this was about a year ago, so if there's any alteration to my writing style, that's why.

Anyways, donate if you feel like it, I hope you enjoyed this piece.

/BlueWing10


	3. Chapter 3- A Chance Meeting

The following days did nothing to ease Arno's anxiety. If anything, the passage of time made the problem even worse, and even with all the food in the world to fill his stomach he still couldn't rid himself of the pit that kept his thoughts in a choke hold. Curiosity had turned into a want, and the want had turned into a need to return to the old factory across the river.

Unlike Arno, Jonah seemed completely unaffected by what he'd seen. Shockingly, he hadn't said a word about it to anyone, but there was still time for him to slip up. However, seeing as how Arno had made it his responsibility to keep an eye on Jonah, he would almost always be close enough to shut him up if he did say something. Even now, Arno watched the boy flip through the papers he pulled from his backpack, sifting through them to look for one of the many assignments he hadn't even started.

"These teachers sure do like homework." He said to himself. Arno grunted in affirmation. His thoughts drifted to his own binder that he kept in his room, full of loose papers and handouts, but he couldn't keep his thoughts away from that computer. "When do you wanna go back to the factory?" Asked Jonah.

Arno jumped at the question, shooting a glare towards Jonah before realizing that they were alone.

"I don't know." He shot back.

"You want to go back, don't you?" Arno didn't respond. His eyes met the floor. "Come on, don't you wanna see what's there, what that thing does?"

"It's not that simple."

"Yeah it is! All we have to do is go back and flip that switch, and we'll know exactly what that thing does! It's simple as that!"

Before the conversation could be prolonged, the sound of a bell broke the stillness, and not five seconds had passed before students were filing out of their classrooms, and into the courtyard. Jonah shot one more pleading look at Arno, who has half tempted to resign to the boy's plea right then and there, but he resisted.

"We'll talk about this later." He said. The two rose from their seats, Jonah following Arno's lead, and they walked across the courtyard together. At this point, about a week into the school year, there were two things that the dark skinned boy was used to; receiving stares from the other students who were curious about the scars on his left cheek and lips (even if they were small, everyone could tell there was a story behind them), and the fact that Jonah would more than likely be following him wherever he went. They didn't share every class, but he'd already resigned to having his short companion tail him wherever he went for most of the day. As such, he was more able to help Jonah weave through the crowds as they escaped their classrooms, but Jonah wasn't always able to slip through the crowd without bumping into people.

"Oof!" Jonah tumbled down past Arno, who reacted just in time to avoid falling to the ground himself. He stepped off to the side before turning about and seeing the two students who had collided: Jonah, and another one he didn't recognize.

"Oh!" Cried the other student, scrambling to his feet to help Jonah. "Uh, uh, thank you!" He shouted, before seemingly scolding himself with a harsh 'no'. "Sorry, sorry!" He corrected himself, setting himself down by Jonah's side to help him back up to his feet.

This new student couldn't have been older than Arno was. He was young, seemingly energetic, and judging by his accent alone, he was American, and one who didn't speak a great deal of french. Nonetheless, he was very quick to hoist Jonah up off the ground, even spending a minute to help him balance after his fall.

"You ok? You ok?" He repeated. Eventually, Jonah nodded. Having fully recovered from the fall, he now wore his signature smile again, and thanked the other student for helping him.

"I'm ok, thank you!" He said. He gave himself a little shuffle, moving his backpack back to the center of his back, although in doing so, he used enough force to displace the contents of his pack, specifically an old looking leather journal, dusty and cracked. It slipped out of his backpack, and fell open to the ground with its worn pages now facing the sky. Arno was the first to move, panicking to pick it up before it was seen. Jonah moved next, but it was the new student who managed to grab it, mainly because Jonah and Arno's heads clashed together in an attempt to snatch it first. The boy was about to close it, and hand it to the others, but mid-motion he stopped, and his eyes quickly scanned the page as a warm and friendly smile slowly dropped from his face.

As soon as Arno managed to recover from the unintentional headbutt, he moved to take the notebook with a quick word of thanks, but the second he moved, the student sealed the notebook, and handed it over.

"I understand!" He cried. Both of the others stopped.

"What?" Arno asked for clarification, while Jonah's eyes became lit like stars. "You understand it?" The boy's head nodded, a motion that his head of short brown hair followed. He readjusted his clothes, a sky blue jacket over a navy blue and white striped sweater, and continued.

"Small, but I know. Computer talk!" He said, becoming excited as the words escaped him. "I read, write, learn! You?" He pointed first to himself, then to Jonah, who nodded vigorously.

"Well," he corrected himself, "my dad is a software engineer, but I picked up a little bit!" He then extended his hand. "Jonah, Jonah Dun!"

"Maxwell Vike." Said the other student, catching Jonah's hand and giving it a few very firm shakes. Max then reached out to Arno, who (after a moment's hesitation) reached back and shook his hand.

"Arno Luma." He said.

"Thank you!" Said Maxwell. He then turned his attention back to Jonah, and to the book, which Arno still held. "What for?" He asked. "I major in computer."

"Really?" Arno said. "I thought you were majoring in french." Biting as the comment was, Maxwell's shoulders shook with a good chuckle.

"I speak good english, but french is difficult. Can I look at the book?"

Arno's first response was a firm and harsh no, but no sooner had he opened his mouth, did Jonah pat his side, and offer a pleading look.

"Arno." He said, as a soft scolding. He looked down at Jonah, whose eyes were open wide, his lips turned downward in a highly emphasized frown.

"I'm gonna kick myself for this." He spat under his breath. He waited, but then offered a single wave of his hand, a gesture that said ' _do what you want'_.

The boy was ecstatic, but only for a moment, as his excitement quickly faded. He took the book from Arno, extended his arm, but then drew back as he came to a realization.

"Hey," he said, "Max, why don't you meet us at the Old Factory across the way?" Max raised an eyebrow.

"The factory?" Jonah nodded.

"The factory!" Arno felt the hairs on his neck rise.

"The factory?!" He hissed through his teeth, grabbing Jonah's shoulders. "Jonah, why?!" At this display, Max tilted his head, another sign of confusion.

"Is the factory bad?" This question put a halt to Arno's aggression, but he didn't release Jonah's shoulder.

"No." He finally resigned. "It's just very out of the way, and there was plenty of mold, and bugs, and dangerous equipment the last time we were there, right, Jonah?" The boy nodded.

"But it was still fun." He replied. The hand on his shoulder tightened its grip.

"Yeah. Sure. Whatever you say." There was a moment of silence between them all, until Max spoke up.

"So, what time at the factory?" He said. Arno was silent, but behind pursed lips he was grinding his teeth.

"How about 5:30?" Jonah asked.

"5:30!" Max confirmed, flashing the two of them a wide smile. Then, there was another bell, a warning that classes only had a few minutes until they started. He gave them a quick wave. "See you!"

As he walked away, Arno could only growl under his breath, just barely loud enough for Jonah to hear.

"Jonah." He said, slowly, with a rising tone.

"What?" The boy broke away from his grip, and spun around to face him. "He said he understands the notebook! He could help us figure everything out! Just imagine, he could help us both understand what all of that is about!"

"Why do we need to do that?! Aren't you studying the notebook?"

"Oh, so NOW you're trying to make sure that I'm on top of things?" Jonah shot back, stunning Arno into silence. He held his tongue for a moment, but narrowed his eyes. "That's what I thought." Jonah continued. "Look, we find this super computer, and just days later, we meet someone who can actually help us understand it? Whatever this is all about, is it really something you want to pass up? When were we even going to go back, if I hadn't asked?" Again, Arno couldn't find a response. Instead, he looked down at the phone he pulled from his pocket. It was almost time to get to class.

"Come on." He said. "We'll finish this later."

"Will we?"

"Yes. We will. Thanks to you, we don't have any other option now." Just as Arno, followed by Jonah, was about to move, the two of them were called out by a tall and lean looking man.

"Get to class you two." He said, with a tone far less than a scolding, but a little more than just an instruction.

"We were just about to." Arno replied. He looked the man up and down for a moment before the two of them left. He recognized him as the gym teacher; tall, slightly muscled, and wearing a pair of slim black pants and matching colored tank top. His hair, the same shade of brown as his eyes, was swept off to the side, and his olive skin shone with the sweat he'd accumulated over the classes he'd already taught that day.

"Glad to hear it." He said, before the two students turned to leave.

Arno was careful not to open his mouth until he was out of the teacher's sight. He didn't want any information getting out to the other students, but if there was anyone he didn't want to tell about the discover he and Jonah had made, it was the teachers. They couldn't possibly understand what they'd found, and how could they? It was a once in a lifetime discovery, after all.

Elisabeth watched the two students leave for class, up until they vanished behind the cover of the dorm building. There was, as usual, mountains of papers on her desk, all of which needed to be finished by the week's end, but she took a few more moments to bask in the view of Kadic Academy. Although her outfit, a very serious looking black and soft pink suit worn above a pencil skirt and high heels with a headband to keep her hair back, might give off the look of a very serious woman, in moments like these she was anything but.

She took in a long, drawn out breath, closing her eyes, visualizing the courtyard full of students. It was that vision that made her remember why she became a headmaster in the first place. However, peaceful as that vision was, it couldn't afford to last.

A knock on the door broke her concentration, and she was quick to respond to it.

"Come in."

The door creaked open, and in popped the head of the teacher she'd watched speak to the two students before.

"You wanted to see me?" She turned around, smiling at him as she stepped away from the window, and closer to her desk.

"I did. Thank you for coming to see me Ulrich." She pulled out her chair, and took a seat, and Ulrich did the same.

"What's this about?" He asked.

"That student you were talking to. How was he?" Ulrich shrugged.

"I couldn't tell. He was just talking to his friend from what I could see. Why?" In response to his question, Elisabeth leaned over, pulling a sand colored folder from a drawer in her desk. On that folder was the name "Arno Luma".

"His name is Arno." She explained, handing the folder to him, but pulling it back slightly as he extended his hand to meet it. "And if anyone asks, I did not show you this file, understand?" Her expression was enough to make a flower wither, and to send a shiver down Ulrich's spine.

"Sissi, I'm not going to go around bragging about having read student profiles." He said, taking the folder.

"Really? Because I have told you to stop using that name, and that hasn't happened yet." Ulrich flashed Elisabeth a smile.

"And it will, one day, I promise." She rolled her eyes at him, before reaching forward to straighten the name plate on her desk. The dark oak triangle block was dressed on the front with a golden plate, inscribed with the name "Elisabeth Delmas".

"I'm sure." She said. "I called you in here, because Arno is a bit of a," she paused, placing the curve of a finger on her lips in deep thought, "troubled, student."

"How many detentions has he gotten? Odd and I have a record to keep."

"None, yet. I'm talking about his potential." Ulrich thumbed through the pages. It looked like he was a transfer student from Pakistan, and he was able to reach pages worth of academic numbers and passport information, but he stopped dead on the last page, where a vast majority of the information was blacked out. He leaned back in his chair.

"Now do you see what I mean?"

"I see a lot black, that's for sure." Again, Sissi rolled her eyes.

"All of that, is information that school board doesn't want anyone to see. It's details about his family life and home. All I was told was that he lived with his grandmother for a few years before coming here, due to," she paused again, "complications with his father. They didn't give me anything else than that, so I had to assume that he didn't have a mother for most of his life."

"Yikes." Said Ulrich under his breath. "That's gotta be rough for the guy."

"I know. I mean, even having parents who are divorced is hard enough, but I imagine that she's a bit more out of the picture than that."

"What do you suggest then?"

"Well, right now, I would just ask that you keep an eye on him. I've seen kids like this before, and I'm shocked that he managed to find a friend, especially this early in the year. If the issues with his parents are half as bad as I think they are, he could have some real issues going forward. I'm hoping we can mitigate as many bad effects as possible."

"And why reach out to me? We have school psychologists, and Yolanda has a psych degree, doesn't she?"

"Yes, and yes." Elisabeth answered, as Ulrich handed her hack the file. "But the main reason that I called you, as opposed to the others, was because you, Ulrich, have a bit of a history with troubled students." She sat back in her chair as Ulrich shot her an amused look.

"I don't follow." He said, coyly.

"Oh don't you?" Elisabeth pulled a few more files from her desk, and on the top was one belonging to "Ulrich Stern". She flipped the file up in her hands and layed it open in her palm. "Ulrich Stern," she read aloud, "evasive, troublesome, has a tie with Odd Della Robbia with the most detentions in a single school year to date. As close to a delinquent as one can get." She then clapped the folder closed with one hand and stared Ulrich down with a spark in her eyes. "Do you follow now?"

"I guess I do." Said Ulrich, cracking a smile. "Although I'll have to breath that tie with Odd one of these days." Elisabeth smiled back at him.

"Don't worry, you kept enough of your delinquent behavior that I could probably give you another detention if I wanted. But the point of all of this is that you have experience. You're probably the most apt person here to deal with whatever might bother Arno. Ulrich, can I trust you to keep an eye on him?"

"Of course." Ulrich gave her a two finger salute from his forehead. "I'll do what I can, I promise."

"Thank you." Said Elisabeth, giving off a little sigh of relief. "I don't want to overburden you, I know you're taking on everything that Jim can't do, but I wouldn't be asking you if it weren't important.

"Don't worry about me Sissi, it looks like you have way more work to get done than I do." He motioned his head towards the piles of papers strewn across her desk.

"Yeah yeah, I'll get around to it today. But in the meantime, you should probably get back to your class. I'm a little worried what Jim's up to, he was always more harsh as a substitute than an actually teacher."

"Will do." Ulrich rose from his seat with a stretch, and walked to the door with a casual farewell.

"Oh! Ulrich!" She stopped him before he had stepped out of the door. "I almost forgot to mention, I've been so busy this week that I haven't had any time to set up the administrative meetings for Jeremy or Aelita. If you see them today could you ask them to stop by? I do need to get those done."

"Of course. I'll let them know when I finish up with this class."

"Thank you Ulrich, you're a life-saver." Ulrich gave her another two finger salute, and he closed the door behind him, leaving Elisabeth once more in the silence of the mid-afternoon.

The pit in Arno's stomach was only continuing to grow. He had wanted to keep things a secret for as long as he could, but clearly that wasn't possible. He took a quick glance down at his phone, the time on which read five pm. A frustrated sigh escape his lips as he watched Jonah leave his classroom, and turn right towards Arno, who sat with arms crossed. He looked Arno up and down, and with each step it looked like his smile was growing even wider.

"Hey there." He said. "I know you're frustrated with me, but please, don't be too... cross, with me." He pointed down at Arno's arms. Arno was unamused.

"If I wasn't angry with you before," he said, "I am now."

"Oh come on, that was a good pun!"

"That's partially why I'm angry."

"Spoilsport." Jonah twisted around and shuffled onto the bench next to Arno. "Are you ready for today?"

"I shouldn't have to be."

"Hey, you're the one who said that I can't go to the factory without you."

"Would you shut it?!" Arno's head snapped over to Jonah. "My goal was to keep this a secret, just between the two of us! And now you've involved someone who we came across when you bumped into him? How do you know we're not stumbling onto something dangerous?!"

"How do you know we're not stumbling onto something awesome?" Jonah replied.

"Because this 'awesome' stuff that looks like it comes straight out of a sci fi movie, is more times than not, dangerous! And unlike you, I have a semblance of self preservation."

"Hey, I have a sense of self perseverance too!"

"Preservation." Arno corrected.

"Right, that, but if you never explore anything, then you never find anything!" At this remark, the older of the two remained silent, staring ahead with a huff until Jonah began to speak again.

"Listen, Arno, I know you're frustrated with me, but I have a good feeling about this. You don't have to come with, if you don't want to, but I really want to see this through." He turned, and without waiting for a response, he began to leave.

He stopped when his name was called.

"Jonah." He turned, and watched Arno push himself out of his seat, and take a few steps towards him. "You'd better hope that your good feeling doesn't get you killed." He growled, but Jonah's eyes lit up. He stared up at Arno with hands clasped.

"Well, so long as I have someone with a bit of self perseverance, I should be safe." Arno scoffed, turning away, but Jonah could see the softed hint of a smile. "Thanks, for coming with."

"Yeah. Just make sure that I don't regret it."

"I mean, it looks like a computer. What's the worst that could happen?"


	4. Chapter 4- Einstein of Our Age

Arno's foot tapped impatiently against the ground, his arms were crossed over his chest and his teeth were digging into his bottom lip. The two of them had decided to wait just on the inside of the factory, to avoid drawing unwanted attention, but it seemed that they had also avoided the only attention they had wanted. Maxwell was nowhere to be found, and it was currently a few minutes past the time they wanted him here.

"Why would he even have agreed to this?" Arno asked aloud. "Two students who just happen to have a coding journal approach him, and suddenly he's down to meeting them in an old and decrepit factory? Who in their right mind would agree to something like that?"

"That's a good question." Jonah sat beside where he stood, doodling in a journal he'd pulled out when Maxwell didn't show. "Honestly it does sound super sketchy when you put it like that." Arno groaned in frustration, then slid down the wall next to Jonah.

"If he's not here soon, I'm leaving."

"Or!" Jonah suddenly interjected. "We could go down and explore again!"

"No."

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Oh come on, why not?!"

Arno's frustration manifested in an almost pained groan, but that's all he managed before they both jumped in surprise as the sudden arrival of a new voice.

"Hey!" Called the voice. It was Maxwell. He stood in the open maw of the factory, panting and sweating from the tips of his hair.

"Geez, did you run to get here?" Asked Arno as he pushed himself up off of the wall.

"I don't speak French." He said. Arno and Jonah exchanged a confused glance, but Maxwell then corrected himself. "Little French. Little taller than little French." This did little more than little to clear up the confusion. When Max eventually stood fully back up, Arno motioned to his own face, trying to point out how his sandy skin was now flushed with red. He gave a little open mouthed head nod of understanding.

"I ran here." He confirmed. Arno rolled his eyes.

"Are you gonna be ok?" Asked Jonah. At last, Max took a breath long enough to calm his lungs, and he spoke again.

"I'm ok. Class was late and I'm excited to learn!"

"That's alright! Come on, I'll show you the way!" Jonah took a few slow steps along the concrete catwalk, and motioned for Max to follow, which he did. Arno waited a few moments, then did the same.

Along the way, Jonah explained everything that led up to the discovery of the super computer. He explained how the two of them had explored this place, and stumbled across the notebook in a special room. The more Jonah explained, the more vague everything seemed, and the more shocked that Arno was that Max had been convinced to come here so easily. Nonetheless, Maxwell followed Jonah as he explained, and the group went down the stairs, across the cavernous hall, then down the elevator shaft. The moment the elevator started to fall, Arno felt that same pit in his stomach resurface so strongly that his hand fled to his midsection to hold it. Fortunately this went unnoticed by the other two.

The car rattled as it fell to its destination, and as the ticks went on, and on, and on, Jonah struggled to find more explanation to fill the space. It wasn't until the car ceased to move, that Jonah hinted further at their discovery.

"This is the room we found the old journal in." He explained, as the door began to open with a hiss. The circular piece in its center began to spin, as two claw-like mechanisms were lifted from its top and bottom, The two cautionary bars at the top right and bottom left slid back, vanishing into the building outside of the elevator. At last, with a little jolt of electricity, the door began to slid open, the two halves splitting from the center, and moving left and right until the door made way for the outside room.

Jonah and Arno stood in silence, watching Max's jaw fall open as his grip on the book tightened over his chest. He took a few steps back as he watched the scene unfold before him, but the moment the doors were fully open, it looked almost like he was about to drop both the book, and his jaw, to the floor.

"What?" He whispered when he'd recovered from the shock. "What?" He repeated himself, his tone growing as he repeated his question twice more.

"Welcome to the party." Arno gave Max a firm clap on the back as he, followed by Jonah, stepped into the super computer room.

Max followed in turn, taking a few tentative steps into the room, as though the ground were about to collapse beneath him. His eyes scanned every detail in the room at least ten times, and his mouth hung open as his quivering arms held tightly to the book he kept held against his chest. His rattling seemed to remind him of what he held, and after looking back and forth between the computer monitors on the other end of the room, and the book, he quickly opened it and flipped through the pages.

Page after page, he thumbed through the book in silence, his expression of awe never leaving his face. Entire minutes were spent in this state of silent panicked reading, and all the while, Arno and Jonah stood off to the side.

"Yikes." Said Jonah. "Did we break him?"

"I'm surprised we didn't go through a similar phase." Arno replied. "Give him a few minutes. He's probably in a bit of a shock after-" He was cut off by a scream, one filled with such a variety of emotion that it was impossible to ascertain its core feeling. Max slammed the book shut and held it to his chest once again as his wail finally subsided, and he turned to the others with wide eyes, and an even wider grin.

"I have very many to say!"

"So this is a super computer?" Arno asked. Max nodded vigorously.

"Super power computer! So many programs, so much function!" He continued to flip through the pages, even after Arno and Jonah had taken a seat on the ground around him. He then turned the book around for them to see, and sketched into the pages he showed them, was a strange visual of a circle, with four fin like shapes on its top, bottom, left, and right, with a single word inscribed on the page. "Lyoko." Maxwell read aloud. He then went right back to flipping through the page. "A game. Very special game, virtual reality!" He struggled to explain in broken French, the rules and objects of the game. "One computer master, the rest are players. Players go into test tubes, and turn into... computers?" He groaned, snapping near his head trying to remember the word, then he found it. "Data! Players turn into data! Virtual reality!"

"So this is all some sort of game?" Asked Arno.

"That sounds like fun!"

"But who on earth would make something like this for a game? That doesn't make any sense. This entire place looks more advanced than anything I've ever seen, this can't be the work of a simple game dev." He turned his full attention back to Max. "Max, what's the goal of the game? How do we win?" Max looked back down, turning a few more pages before landing on the answer.

"To win," he explained, "you have to kill a sickness, Xana."

"Xana?" Asked Arno and Jonah simultaneously. Max nodded.

"Xana. Bad computer, villain. Players turn to data, kill monsters, defeat Xana, win!" Arno and Jonah exchanged two very different glances.

"Is this some sort of military training program? That has to be it, right? Who would go through all of this trouble to make a game, in a place where people like us could find it?" Max shrugged.

"That's it. The rest is code and computer talk." Arno sighed. He finally had the answers he was looking for, and yet he was no closer to understanding what this place was.

"We should try it out!" Jonah's suggestion broke Arno's thoughts, and he immediately scolded the boy.

"Jonah are you out of your mind?!" He exclaimed. "We don't know how to operate this thing!"

"I do." Both of the others turned to Max, who glanced back and forth between them. "Computer Major. This language is familiar. Give me one day, and I can read it." Arno turned from Jonah to Max, leaning in with slightly narrowed eyes.

"Are you sure?" Max nodded again, his smile growing wider.

"It's not that hard. Language salad." He tapped the cover of the notebook with his index finger, then the side of his head. "I'll have this learned before you can say 'I want a salad'."

24 hours was very rarely a long time, until you have to wait that long for something. Arno could barely get himself to sleep for a few hours that night, and even Jonah seemed a little lethargic when the sun rose on the next day.  
"Well, today's the day." He stifled another yawn. He and Arno had met up at the gates, and Max told them he would meet them at the factory. Everything was beginning to come together, and Arno wasn't sure how he felt about it.

Nonetheless, he and Jonah slowly made their way to the factory, mostly in silence.

"Why aren't you more excited about this?" Asked Jonah, when the two of them had reached the elevator.

"Jonah, we don't know anything about this. How do you know this isn't going to backfire somehow?" The two of them stepped into the cabin, and Jonah pressed the button that brought the elevator to life. He then shrugged.

"I guess I don't. But what else are we going to do? Just leave the place to dust over?"

"There are some things that aren't worth touching."

"There are plenty of things worth touching, and you never know what they are until you do."

Arno huffed through his nose. He was still skeptical, but Jonah did have a point.

The tram came to a halt, shuffling as it powered down. The doors opened, and they stepped out. By this point, Arno was used to the feeling in his stomach, but somehow Jonah's unusual silence made it worse.

"Any idea when Max is going to be here?" He asked. Before Jonah could respond, they heard a small voice from the other side of the room.

"Hi!" Max called. He leaned over the side of the chair that sat before the computer, and waved over to the others.

"Hey!" Jonah called back, replicating the same motion. "You're early!"

"I'm early!" He echoed back. "I wanted electricity!"

"I'm not going to pretend to understand what you mean." Said Arno. He and Jonah stepped over to the set of monitors to join Max, who, after a moment's contemplation, made a strange motion. He pinched air between his fingers, and turned his hand, making a clicking sound with his mouth. Jonah raised an eyebrow.

"You're picking a lock?"

"Your car won't start?" Arno snapped his fingers. "Jumpstart." He realized aloud. "You wanted to get a jumpstart." Max nodded vigorously, pointing to Arno with a wide grin.

"Jumpstart!" He repeated. "I wanted a jumpstart!" He then turned his attention back to the book he held in his lap. He was on one of the final pages that had writing in it. Over half the book was blank, but the pages that did have data on them were full of information, more than Arno would've been able to absorb in a day. "I think I know." Said Max. "Easy, little difficult."

"Easy?" Arno crossed his arms over his chest. "That's easy?"

"It's easy for an art to art, a singer to sing."

"Pardon me for being a little cautious, but this seems hard to believe from someone who just struggled to say, 'it's easy for an art to art'."

"Go easy on him." Jonah poked Arno's side with his elbow. "He's doing his best. French isn't his strong suit."

"Clearly." Arno's response earned him another jab to the side, but Max seemed unfazed.

"The book is done." He said. Max shut the book, and placed it next to the keyboard. "Now, we start the machine."

Arno struggled to control his nerves. He knew that all he had to do was flip a lever, but the towering spire before him caused his legs to shake beneath him. In the back of his mind, all of his reservations gathered, screaming at him that this was a bad idea.

"This is a bad idea."

"Then let me do it." Jonah stepped up past him, but Arno's arm shot out to his side, stopping Jonah from proceeding.

"No." He barked, suddenly enough to stun Jonah into recoiling.

"Ok, alright." His hands shot to the sky as he took a few steps back. "Then by all means, go ahead." Jonah motioned over to the lever with his hands, holding them there as though directing Arno in its direction. He stood for a few moments longer, but then, took a few tentative steps in its direction. In the span of a few moments, he closed the distance, placed his hand on the bar, and dragged it down.

Suddenly, the machine roared to life, and both Arno and Jonah stepped back as the gold that shone from beneath the dark blue plates began to glow. It pulsed brighter, faster, as though the act of starting up had increased the computer's heart rate. The room, once cold, and darkened, was now beginning to light up like the sky, and the roar of the computer only grew louder as the lights pushed the darkness from the furthest corners of the room. This went on for about half a minute before finally, the light began to subside, the pulsing slowed, and the roar died down. The room, although still bright, was becoming still again.

"I think it's on." Jonah whispered, still cowering at the far end of the room.

"Yeah. Yeah I think it is."

The sound of the elevator doors sliding open made Maxwell almost leap from his seat. His head spun around, and a smile graced his face as he watched the others walk back into the room. He greeted them with a wave, then went back to studying the book for what felt like the hundredth time.

"It's on." Said Arno.

"Yes!" Maxwell cheered, throwing a fist into the air without taking his attention away from the book. "I learn again! It's simple." He turned to the others wearing a wide toothy grin. "Are you ready?" Max stared Arno down, but he cast his own gaze to Jonah, who stood behind him, shaking with glee and excitement. It didn't look as though either of them would take no for an answer.

"We're ready." Arno confirmed. He gave Max a little nod, which he reciprocated before bringing his fingers to the keys, and typing with wind-like swiftness a command that brought the computer screens to life.

All at once, each of the screens was lit up like the night sky, characters and commands streaming across them as the monitors woke up. Even Maxwell seemed stunned by the information, and leaned back in his seat as his eyes zipped back and forth, from screen to screen trying to absorb the information before it passed, but to no avail. Just as fast as the information had come, it was now gone, leaving the monitors blank, aside from the sea green screen saver.

Suddenly, the room became bright again as the center platform began to glow, first a very harsh white, then a variety of colors that began to form a strange set of shapes. A sphere settled in the air near the center, and around it the same four fin shapes that they had seen in the journal began to take form. Lastly, a sphere closed it all in, as though protecting it from the outside air.

The three children were now significantly unsettled. As the underground had sprung to life, Jonah had quickly attached himself to Arno, and Max now sat as far back in his chair as he could get. Even after everything was on, they were motionless, as though the slightest movement would activate more unfamiliar machinery. Only after they were certain that everything was said and done, did they begin to move again."

"What is this?" Arno took a few slow steps towards the holographic display, eyeing this strange world up and down with Jonah close behind him.

"Lyoko." Max answered, his voice leaden with awe and wonder, and a little bit of fear.

"This is incredibly high tech for a game, don't you think?" Arno reached out, nervously waving his hand through the suspended mirage. His hand, of course, passed straight through it, but he withdrew it quickly anyways. "Max?" He called out, but received no response.

"Uh! Uh, um um um!" Max hollered, the mere volume of his voice enough to make the other two jump. He then pointed to the elevator, jabbing a few times in its direction. "South! South!" He called.

"You want us to go back down?!" Arno's question earned another vigorous nod from Max. He then raised his hand above his head.

"One." He said, then lowered his hand. "Two." He lowered it again. "Three." Then he raised his hand back up, and settled it where position 'two' had been.

"Two? You mean a second floor?"

"Yes! Yes! Second floor, fast!" Max urged them to hurry with a single finger, poking it in their direction a few times before they took off to the elevator once again.

From the moment they'd entered the factory again, Arno's stomach was twisted into knots, but each discovery only made him feel worse, as though he was unlocking a door that should have never been touched. Even Jonah was stunningly quiet as the two had gone about activating the super computer. As they boarded the elevator, the young boy stood close to Arno, and his presence was (for once) comforting, to a degree. The car once again descended into the heart of the factory, but with Max's help, the elevator didn't stop at the bottom. Instead, it only went down what felt like a hundred feet before its doors began to open.

"Oh my god." Said Arno, as the scene unfolded before him.

Three steel tubes stuck out of the ground, each one raised a few inches and topped with massive wires that vanished into the ceiling. The entire room was awash with a bright orange glow that painted the walls in a golden hue, and each one of the tubes were humming with a strange song that faded in and out.

"Hello!" Max's voice boomed through the room, stunning the other two as they frantically looked around for the source of the disembodied voice. "Hello? Am I loud?"

"Loud and clear Max." Arno called back. "What are these?"

"Scanners!" Max replied, his voice a mix of happy excitement and fear. "Step inside, transform into data! Virtual reality!"

"What sort of mad man created this?" Arno said under his breath. "This is crazy. How do we even know this is safe?"

"Well," Jonah spoke up for the first time in minutes, stepping out from behind Arno. "There's only one way to find out." Then he turned his head skyward to address Max. "Do you know how to activate them?"

"Yes, yes I do." His response came between a few uncertain hums and the flipping of pages, neither of which inspired confidence in Arno.

"That doesn't sound too certain."

"I'm not looking you learn!" Max shot back with a huff before the flipping of pages took over the noise of the intercoms.

"This is crazy." Arno took a few shy steps into the center of the room to join Jonah. "This is crazy. We don't know if any of this is safe, and on top of that, Einstein up there doesn't speak enough french to possibly understand that notebook."

"But who in their right mind would deliberately make something that's unsafe?"

"Psychopaths!" Arno replied, turning to face Jonah. "I am not stepping in these tubes, and neither are you. Come on." He waved the boy to follow him and turned to board the elevator again. He hadn't taken more than a few steps before Jonah called out to him.

"What's that?" He asked, prompting Arno to turn around just in time to see the boy step into the tube.

"Jonah, no!" He yelled, and twisted himself around, barreling towards the steel pipe as Jonah once again turned his head to address Max's voice.

"Beam me up, Scotty!"

"Haha," Said Max, "That's a funny." The moment the words had left his mouth, the pipe quickly sealed itself, and Jonah was gone.

"Jonah!" Arno screamed, pounding his fist against the steel wall and calling out the boy's name again. "Jonah can you hear me?!"

"Virtualization!" Max struggled to say, as though he were reading from a script. "Jonah!"

"No, no! Max, stop it!" Arno called out again, but it was no use. Max wouldn't respond, and he heard the whirrs and growing hums of machines inside the tube. "No, no no no!" He growled, turning his attention to the other tubes. "Dammit." He spat, before taking a few swift steps to one of the other open machines. He pulled himself inside and spun around to face the rest of the room.

"Max!" He yelled. "Get me in there."

"Alright tall man!" He heard the sound of clacking keys above his head, and the door closed with a slam. "Virtualization, Arno!"

Suddenly, the tube filled with hot air, and Arno felt his clothes whip around him. He sealed his eyes, and his body became overwhelmed to an intense floating sensation, which slowly turned to a numbness that crawled up his legs, up to his chest, his arms, then his head.

"Jonah, if this goes wrong, I'm going to knock your lights out." He said, before the light of the tube vanished, and he was thrown into darkness.

Authors Note-

I've never, in my life, felt so productive. I'm trying to write as often as I can, but my writings are split between DnD work, school work, musical composition, and my own fiction book. My goal is to have these chapters out once a week, but they may be just a bit more or less frequent.

Thanks for reading. If anybody feels like donating, I can't post the full link, but it's /BlueWing10


	5. Chapter 5- Lyoko

Arno couldn't breathe.

His chest heaved up and down, he followed through the motions that would ordinarily fill his lungs, but not once did he feel the rush of air that filled his chest and erased the heavy feeling. He was beginning to panic, until at last his body was suddenly thrown into being.

From his feet to his head he felt the strange sensation of being pushed, or pulled, towards the ground, yet he hung in the air for the longest time, until finally the invisible hand that held him suspended above the ground released him. He fell, landed on his feet, then fell again to his face, into ground that was cold as ice. Or rather, it should have been cold, but it wasn't. The slick white surface was clearly a mix of ice with enough snow to keep him from slipping about, but while he felt the pushback of the surface, he didn't feel any sensation that should have accompanied the ice. He was able to breathe again, but he felt nothing, smelled nothing, heard almost nothing.

For the first time, Arno looked up and about. He came face to face with an endless expanse of icy spires and icebergs emerging from flat, deep blue sea. There was no wind, no snow, just the grand nothingness. His eyes scanned the empty horizon, watching, as if waiting for some strange animal to break the surface of the ocean, but one never did. Arno was alone. Then he remembered.

"Jonah!" He screamed into the darkened sky before quickly looking around. He had spawned in on a single lengthy strip of ice with only a few towering icicles and raised platforms to break the monotony. "Jonah!" He called out again, but his call was followed by silence.

"I'm here!" At last, the voice of Jonah called back. It was faint, far, but Arno saw the boy step out from behind a tall icicle about fifty meters away.

"Oh thank god." Arno muttered.

His feet carried him swiftly in the boy's direction, and he pumped his arms at his sides. He was split right down the middle, both relief, and anger rising in his chest.

"Hey Arno!" Jonah called to him when he's gotten close enough.

"You absolute maniac!" He shouted back. As he drew closer, however, he noticed that something was different about Jonah, namely his clothes. Instead of the baggy pants and shirt, he now had on a cloak. It was green, and fell from his shoulders, to almost the bottom of his feet, and the edges were decorated with a golden vine that wove its way across the tail, and then up to a hood that rest atop his head. The vine also circled around the cuffs of his sleeves, and the tops of his deep brown boots. Under his cloak, the clothes were far more simple, a set of black robes just peeking out between the flaps of his cloak.

"Just look at this place!" Jonah stretched his arms to his sides, one of which was holding tightly onto the dark brown surface of a long stick, with a pale white crystal embedded in its top. He spun around, but then stopped, and pointed both of his arms towards Arno. "And just look at YOU!"

"What do you mean?" He looked down, and saw that the clothes he had been wearing before had changed. His new clothes were just as dark as his jacket, but in place of loose fitting jeans he now wore proper combat pants, their tight black fabric adorned with dark red camo pads on his shins and thighs. His entire body was covered in the same material, he felt from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, and his arms were fitted with the same durable micro-shields as his legs were, on his wrists and shoulders. He felt around his face with his hands. A mask covered every inch of his face, and around its center, just barely rising from the mask, was the unmistakable shape of a painted skull. "What is this?" He asked, turning about to get a look at this strange new uniform. "What happened to my clothes, what am I wearing?" The moment his back turned to Jonah, he heard the boy give off a shout of awe.

"Your weapons!" He called out, prompting Arno to turn back.

"My what?"

"Your weapons!" He repeated, pointing to Arno's back. "Pull them off!" He did as he was asked to, and upon reaching to his back he, he felt a rod covered in leather, like the hilt of one of the machetes he had back home. He gave the hilt a quick tug, and something heavy was released from his back. Pulling this object around to get a good look at it, he was stunned to see a heavy-looking hammer. It was short, just shy of the length of his arm, but it looked as though it should weigh much more than it did.

Arno turned the weapon around in his hand, admiring the rounded head of the weapon, and examining its flat bludgeoning side at its front. Then he looked down at the base, and saw a small button just north of the hilt. Curiosity got the better of him, and upon clicking the button, several spikes emerged from the head in all directions. He almost dropped it in shock, just barely managing to hold firm to his new weapon.

"What in the world?" His voice trailed off as he clicked the button again, retracting the spikes.

"That weapon's even better than mine!" Arno turned his focus to Jonah as he waved his staff around. It was about as tall as he was, and it looked significantly lighter than his own mace. "I'm not complaining though, check this out!" He took a few steps away from Arno, and pointed his staff straught ahead. "Fireball!"

All of a sudden, the crystal at the tip of his weapon ignited a fierce orange, and from the crystal, a great plume of fire surged. It collected itself in the shape of a sphere before launching itself ahead, darting a few hundred meters before vanishing into the dim night.

"Isn't that awesome?!" Arno ignored Jonah's question, instead turning his attention back to the mace he held in his hands. He examined it up and down a few times before making a response.

"This is insane." He said under his breath.

"Hey! Hey!" A voice called out, filling the once silent air and making the two boys jump. The voice belonged to Max, but neither of them could see where it was coming from. "You ok? I can talk to you!"

"Max?" Asked Arno. "Max where are you?"

"I'm in the chair. It's like telephone! Are you ok?"

"About as ok as we could be." Arno answered, his face turned to the sky to address the disembodied voice. "Are you able to see this? Where are we?"

"Uhh," The voice stammered a few times, and they heard that familiar snap as Max tried to grasp for the right words. "Mirror? No, Ice cream? No! Ice! Ice!" He gave off a celebratory laugh before recollecting himself. "You're in Ice world, on Lyoko!"

Arno took a few moments to collect himself. His eyes scanned the almost invisible horizon, trying to take in this strange and foreign environment, trying to process it all. He could only barely convince himself that he was lucid.

"This is crazy." He murmured to himself.

"This is awesome!" Cried Jonah. The boy showed absolutely none of the fear that should've been present in his tone, or on his face. Instead, he wore a smile that stretched from ear to ear, and he waved his staff around in a gleeful dance. "Just look at this place! It's an entire world!"

"Not quite." Max's voice drew their attention once again. "This is only part of the world. There much more."

Max's fingers clicked against the keyboard with relative ease. The commands and prompts were easy enough to understand, and there was a measure of added simplicity, seeing as how the computer seemed to already know what it was he was trying to type. Everything that he struggled to say with his mouth, he could easily produce with his fingers on the keys of this wonderful, mystical device. He was absorbed in each line of code that his fingers created, and as they passed his eyes, they wormed their way into the depths of this program, bringing about exactly what he was looking for; the source code.

Before his eyes, a wall of text typed itself out at thousands of words a minute, spanning page after page until it had all been filled. Max watched with growing eyes as the words vanished near the bottom of the screen, only to continue past his eyesight, allowing him to scan the present words before scrolling down. He muttered to himself in english, a few words of awe and wonder.

Everything outside of the computer screen became unimportant, and he delved into the lines of code that pulsed on the screen. It was the source code for the entire world, in read-only format, and despite his limited understanding of what this source code was for, he was able to easily decipher its nature. It listed out the functions of the world, and what each area was about. It detailed everything from the levels of friction of the ice, to the physics of floating rocks somewhere else in the world. For a computer to simulate this level of detail in a world as expansive as this one had to have the worlds most advanced memory, and a powersource more capable than that of the strongest computer.

Max was so engrossed with the screen, that he almost failed to notice a few development the chamber he occupied. The light around him grew brighter, as the last of the computer systems were booting up. Startled by the light, Max almost threw himself out of his seat to get a look at the light source.

It was the same platform that had been glowing before, but this time there was something different about it. Max recognized the shape as Lyoko, but it was altered. Instead of four long fins stretching out from the sides of the sphere, there were eight, and each one was very different from the others. He couldn't make out the details, but there was a faint color to each of these new areas. One was bright red, and almost looked as though it was moving. The other was dark grey, jagged, with bright flashes every few seconds. The third was dead black, and nothing much could be seen, but the fourth was very different from the other three. It was bright green, but all through the area there were lights like stars in various shades and colors, all seemingly centered around a central pool of blue, shaped not unlike the strange symbol that Max had seen on the computer tower earlier. This new development captured his attention for a minute as he examined these new shapes. They were different from the world depicted in the journal. He muttered something else in english before turning his focus back to the computer, upon hearing a strange beeping sound.

"Uh oh."

Arno and Jonah heard Max's voice echo through the world, and those two simple words did nothing to inspire confidence in either of them.

"Uh oh?" Arno echoed back. "What's uh oh?!"

"There's uh, uh, bad? I think? South."

"What in the world are you talking about?" Arno's head was turned skyward, but Jonah's focus was elsewhere, specifically down the long ice path on which they both stood.

"Uh, I think that's what he's talking about."

Jonah pointed a finger in the direction of two vague shapes made of pale grid lines. They were taking form, but it was slow, jerky, like an unoptimized loading screen. Color began to floor the form in a very similar manner, revealing a strange creature with four oversized limbs, a bug-like body, and a lengthy snout. It hovered in the air as its sand colored limbs, green underbelly and white head began to fill with color, only dropping from the sky when its full form had been colored in.

"Max, what are those things?" Arno stepped forward, placing a hand on Jonah's chest to move him back.

"I don't know. Bad?"

Max quickly scanned the screen, looking for any helpful information that he could find. What he found instead, were cards that lined the bottom of the screen. Two of these cards were obviously Jonah and Arno, depicting their avatars with weapons drawn. The other two were the creatures that had materialized on the ice. At the top of the card was the name of the beast, 'tarantula', followed by a picture, and a series of green dots dubbed 'HP'.

"Enemy, maybe?" Max flipped through a few pages in the notebook before scanning through a page he'd come across. His fingers then flew to the keyboard, and typed out a rather lengthy command.

A new window appeared on the screen, one that displayed the very world that Jonah and Arno were in, seemingly from Jonah's perspective, as he saw Arno before him.

"Maybe?" Arno called back. "We're going to need something more concrete than a 'maybe', Max."

"The book doesn't speak!"

"What does that mean?!" Arno's sudden jump was enough to make Jonah jump, but he wasn't the only one who heard him.

The two creatures at the end of the path suddenly jerked to life, like an old machine starting up to shake off some dust, and their heads snapped forward in their direction.

"Uh oh." Said Jonah. They watched as the slim forms shakily stepped up, and took a few slow steps forward. "I think they heard you." Arno pushed on Jonah's chest, trying to get him to move backwards, but the boy was resolute. "Maybe they're friendly! Like NPCs!"

"Wait, what? Hey!" Arno's shout did nothing to stop Jonah from moving past his arm, and waltzing over to the two creatures. He gave them each a wide wave, moving his arm back and forth through the sky.

"Hello there!" He yelled. "I am Jonah, and this is Arno! We are friends!"

The two creatures stopped, then they knelt down with one foot and one knee on the ground, before pointing both of their oddly cone shaped hands towards Jonah. Besides the hissing sounds they made, they were silent, uttering not a single word to the boy. Instead, their hands began to glow for a split second before they launched a bolt of light in his direction.

Jonah ducked down with a scream, and Arno was quick to rush forward.

"Jonah!" He took off running with his hands pumping at his sides. His hand flew to his back, and grabbed his mace. "Get down!" Another bolt was fired, but it was directed at Arno instead of Jonah. Just barely in time, he dove out of the way, rolling back up to his feet just in time to dodge a second blast, but his third try wasn't so lucky; he was hit square in the chest, and knocked off balance.

"Arno!" Jonah reached out to stabilize him, but he was too far away. Instead, he turned back to the enemy and drew his staff through the air, smashing the underside of its head. With a pained scream, it stumbled backwards, but the other one merely turned its attention back to Jonah and fired two bolts. The first one missed, but the second his shoulder. He staggered backwards, clutching the invisible wound while the creature fired off a third shot. This bolt was another direct hit, but not to Jonah; Arno's arm absorbed the blast. The plating on his arm glowed red hot for a moment, but much to his own surprise it quickly cooled down. He didn't even feel it.

There was no time to dwell on this discovery, however, as the tarantula that Jonah had hit had already recovered, and now there were four arms ready to blast them both to oblivion.

"Jonah, get back!" Arno growled, keeping his eyes glued to the oversized bugs. "Run, and don't stop until you find cover!"

"But-"

"NOW!" Arno held the line as Jonah finally did as he was told. The boy took off running while Arno took cautious steps backwards. His eyes were fixated on the tarantulas, and his hand was glued to his weapon. "Come on you oversized bugs," he taunted, "show me what you got."

Just as they were asked, the monsters fired off shot after shot. His arms absorbed the first few, but a constant barrage was too much for Arno, and before long he was stumbling backwards from the force of the bullets. One after another they collided with him, until he finally fell backwards. Two shots pounded into his chest, and he felt his form growing weaker as both of the creatures began to stand, and move. He heard their hands and feet scrape against the ice as they closed the distance, and Arno struggled to push himself up off of the ground. His chest heaved with deep breaths as he tried to prepare to fight again, but a voice from behind him drew their collective attentions.

"Hey bug face!" Arno turned his head just in time to see Jonah, holding the end of his staff as though he was about to swing it around. Then he did just that, screaming. "Fireball!" The end of his staff ignited, and a ball of fire was flung through the air. It landed square in the center of one of the creatures' heads, colliding with the strange symbol on its head. With a scream, the creature exploded with a force that caused the other tarantula to recoil, giving Arno time to grab the hilt of his weapon, push the button on the hilt, and smash his weapon into the head of the still living beast. Just as the other had done, the beast exploded.

Arno huffed a few deep breaths as the remains of the creature were scattered across the ice. They slid to a halt, but after a few moments they began to vanish. They turned to data, then to nothing, as Jonah took a few quick steps to reach Arno.

"Arno! Arno, are you ok?" Jonah reached his side quickly, tugging at his arms to pull him up off of the ground, but he didn't budge.

"Are you crazy?!" Arno's head snapped around to glare at Jonah through his mask. He rose on his own term, dusting himself off with quick and powerful motions. "You nearly got us both killed!" Jonah stepped back, his hands pulled back to his chest, and his eyes softly narrowing. His eyes grew soft, and his gaze turned to the ground.

"I'm sorry." He said. It was the first time Arno had heard the boy get this quiet.

The anger that had been rising in his chest began to fade. It was slowly replaced with a quiet calm, following Jonah's apology.

"It's alright." He said, ensuring his voice was softer than before. "But from now on, please don't rush into things like that, alright?" Jonah turned his head back up. His smile was soft, and understanding.

"I'll do my best." He replied.

Arno, uncertain of what to do next, gave the boy a few pats on his shoulders, before rising to his full height. He placed his hands on his hips. In the heat of the battle he'd managed to forget that they were still in a highly unfamiliar world, and they had no idea how to get out. Fortunately, the one who might know chimed in.

"That, was awesome!" Max exclaimed. "This game is so cold!"

"Yeah yeah, but how do we get out?"

"Out? You just got in!"

"Yeah, and it's getting old." Arno snapped back. "Besides," he turned back to Jonah. The boy's eyes were glued to the spot that once held the two monsters, and he didn't seem eager to have them return. "I think we're all funned out for now."

"Aha!" Max's voice boomed through the air, suddenly shattering the silence and once again making the two boys nearly jump out of their skin.

"Geez, cut that out!" Arno called up to the sky from where the invisible voice had come from. "Did you find the code that would get us out of here?"

"Even better!" Max replied, although Arno strongly doubted that that was indeed the case. "I found the code to leave!" With a frustrated sigh, Arno raised his hands to his sides, as though to ask the heavens 'why'.

"Alright then. And while you work on that, what were those things that attacked us?"

"Tarantulas." He felt the shiver that shot up Jonah's spine, even a few feet away.

"Those did not look like tarantulas." The boy quipped. His hands were still clutching his staff over his chest. If he was shaken, he certainly wasn't showing it, although his silence could have easily hid any sort of emotion.

"Ok, are you ok?" The two automatically assumed that Max had meant to ask, 'are you ready to leave'. It was a question they were both eager to answer, and they did so in unison.

"Yes!"

"Alright then! Devirtualize!"

A few seconds later, he heard Jonah give off a little yelp behind him, but upon trying to turn around he felt his chest seize up, and his arms and legs went stiff. He couldn't breathe. Then he couldn't feel. Then he couldn't see.

The second Arno's mouth was able to open, he threw it wide and allowed the earth's air to fill his lungs. He was not at all comfortable.

"I don't think I ever want to do that again." He breathed heavy as he took a few lurching steps out of the pod. Looking up, he felt his vision stabilize. Jonah was dusting himself off, and Arno could see the hints of his trademarked grin forming at the corners of his mouth. He looked up, saw his friend, and smiled wide.

"See? Everything's fine!" He threw his arms up into the air, as if to prove that he was alive.

"We are in way over our heads." Arno took one more heavy breath, and marched past Jonah with a simple wave for him to follow. "Come on. Let's get back upstairs. We have a lot to talk about."

"Daddy, no! Energy field!"

The sky was bright, but not by the light of any celestial body. Lasers were darting through the air as the beasts slipped in and out of sight. They were circling around her, circling around _him_. The mantas, they were quick, and deadly. Aelita threw another energy field, but missed her mark. She threw another, and another, to the point of exhausting herself, but only the occasional shot managed to strike the creatures.

" _Daddy, please!"_ Her mind was screaming at her, and the noise of the celestial dome was almost drowned out by her own thoughts, and the orders of Jeremy.

"Aelita, run the program!" His words were harsh, and sharp, but they passed in one ear and out the other. She couldn't risk it. She had live so many years to see her father again, and now he was trying to sacrifice himself.

Another bolt pierced through the blue-pink veil that separated the white core of Franz Hopper from the rest of the world. It was followed by another, and then Aelita felt her heart snap. The world seemed to fall away as Franz exploded ina flurry of digital particles.

"NO!"

Her eyes shot open. It was the dead of night. The sounds of her nightmare were all but gone, replaced with the quiet chirping of crickets, and the soft singing of the winds. Aelita was safe.

She lay in her bed with Jeremy beside her. He was sound asleep. Despite her fatigue, she managed to lift herself up out of bed. She couldn't just lay down and sleep again, not after that. With one hand on her forehead she tried to reassure herself that it was only a nightmare, one that would never come back.

"Aelita?" Jeremy's voice sounded as though he was still asleep. "Go back to bed. It's still night." She couldn't.

Careful not to fully wake him, she slipped out of the covers, and out of the bed, approaching the window until she was able to catch a glimpse of the full moon.

" _It was only a nightmare."_ She said to herself, but for some reason, she could never fully convince herself.

Authors Notes- I'll be honest, writing has been kinda tricky over this past week, but I'm going to continue to try. Leave your thoughts, cuz for some reason I can never be productive without some form of external positive reinforcement and validation. Stupid brain.

Also, I am working on my own original stories as well. Let me know if you would want to see anything from that, because I might be willing to post teasers as I get closer to finally finishing the work.

I'll try to have the next chapter out next week.


	6. Chapter 6- Faces New and Old

Arno's pencil tapped against his desk over and over again. His thoughts ate away at the back of his mind, keeping him from focusing.

"We're in way over our heads." The same words he'd repeated over and over in his head came back to him again. They were the words he'd tried to get Jonah and Max to understand, but for some reason they couldn't grasp his caution.

Over the next couple of weeks, the feeling of a mace in his hand had become more familiar than that of a pencil, and the old factory had become a second home for him.

"This could be one of the greatest discoveries of a lifetime! Why would you want to pass it up?" Jonah's positivity was in constant conflict with Arno's pessimism, but there was a truth to his response. This computer was the discovery of a lifetime. For as many risks as it brought up, was it worth it to keep going back to play with it? They were treating it like a game, but what else could a world like that be for? It had to haver some form of connection to the military, but the layers of dust in the computer room told them that the hardware hadn't been used in half an eternity.

"This computer talk is winter, this book is gold!" Neither Arno or Jonah knew exactly what Max had meant when he said this, and they struggled to figure it out. Nonetheless, day after day was spent in the strange laboratory as the three children messed with the machine they'd found. The days that weren't spent in the factory were days that each of them were lost in thought. This was one of those days.

Arno was never particularly invested in classes like science or math. He had no specialization, but these classes especially seemed to drag on. At the very least, it gave him some time to think, if the professor would even allow it.

This professor in particular seemed to be invested in her students grades. Whether or not it was a selfish or selfless reasons was unknown, but a normal day involved a great deal of student participation. Before the discovery of the super computer, Arno might have brought himself to join in, but now that his thoughts were occupied, it became significantly more difficult.

"Arno, are you paying attention?" She asked. He looked up from his desk. Like him, she looked very tired, as there were bags beneath her normally lively eyes. Unlike him, she was tall, slender, and very fair skinned. They were about as opposite as opposites could be, and her attire was without blemish; a neat pink shirt paired with blue jeans, a labcoat, and a neatly brushed head of bright pink hair.

"Trying to, Mrs Belpios." He replied, turning his head to the board.

"Do you need me to go over the material again?" Arno shook his head.

"No, I'll manage." She stared him down for a few moments before turning his attention back to the board. She then moved her hand about, etching the lesson into the green of the chalkboard with quick and fluid motions. What exactly it was, Arno couldn't tell; his mind was already gone again, and it remained like that for the remainder of class.

The ringing bell seemed to be the only thing that could shake Arno out of his thoughts. He quickly shuffled his papers together and shoved them into his binder, which he then shoved into his backpack. Just as he was rising from his desk, he was stopped.

"Arno." His named was called from the front of the class, and as he looked up, he was the general science teacher waving him to approach. He did so, reluctantly, grumbling to himself. He did as instructed, and she began to talk in a hushed tone as the other students filled out of the classroom.

"Are you ok Arno?" She asked. He was slightly thrown off by the question.

"Just tired. I haven't been sleeping well." This was technically true. Mrs. Belpios didn't seem too convinced, and her expression of curiosity and suspicion was almost enough to shake him. However, she quickly resigned her suspicion in favor of a softer expression.

"You know we have councilors here if you ever need to talk to someone, alright Arno?"

"Yeah." He shrugged off her concern, which only served to increase it.

"Well, try to get some good sleep tonight, alright?" He nodded without a verbal response. "Alright. To your next class then." Without another word, Arno took off with his backpack slung around one shoulder.

As soon as he'd left the room, Aelita gave off a sigh. It was frustrating for her to see students struggling, but she could only do so much. Despite being asked by Elisabeth to keep an eye on him, she hadn't been able to ascertain much about him, or his position. She would simply continue to keep her eye on him, as that was all she could do.

Aelita's heels clicked against the tiles of the hallway as she walked, papers in hand, on her way to the teachers lounge. It was lunch time for the students, so she would have a bit of free time to get things done before her next class started.

"Good afternoon Aelita!" The croaking voice of Jim Morales called out to her as she walked. She turned, and the old man was stepping in his direction, leaning his weight onto his sturdy cane to help him walk.

"Good afternoon Jim!" She called back. She halted her steps, waiting for him to catch up. "How have the students been treating you?"

"Oh they're alright so far. Been behaving, probably only when they know they're being watched. I've been waiting for some of them to step out of line, so I can show them who's boss, like I did back when I was in the special ops military division back in Canada."

"That sounds pretty exciting." Aelita prompted, knowing exactly what he would say next.

"Oh it was, although, I'd rather not talk about it." Jim croaked with laughter, and Aelita smiled. Some things never change, no matter how old they become.

The teachers lounge was nearly empty, and perfectly quiet. Only a couple of teachers were there, and they kept to themselves for the most part, looking over lesson plans and working on their own things. Jeremy wasn't there yet, but Aelita was certain he wouldn't be too far behind her.

After parting ways with Jim, she took a seat in the back corner of the room, spreading out her papers and giving them a look-over. Not five minutes had passed before the door to the lounge opened again, and in walked not only Jeremy, but Ulrich as well. She flashed them a smile, and they did the same before making their way over to the table.

"We're already a month into the school year." Said Ulrich, pulling out seats for himself, and for Jeremy. "Time really does fly."

"No kidding." Aelita replied. "How have your classes been so far? Have the students been giving you any trouble?"

"Not as much as I would've given myself back when I was their age. Good kids for the most part. Although I feel kinda sorry for that one kid, Arno. That little kid, Jonah, I bet he talks his ear off. Reminds me of Odd a little bit, just less annoying." They all shared a laugh as the three of them settled into their seats. They carried on casual conversation, although Aelita was oddly silent. As Jeremy and Ulrich talked about their students, and the direction they wanted the year to go, thoughts of her nightmare began to surface in her mind.

" _Daddy, no!"_ She winced as the words resurfaced.

"Are you ok Aelita?" Jeremy softly brushed his hand against his wife's arm, causing her to bolt upright in her seat. She gave off a few confused exclamations and glanced quickly between the two others. "Hey, are you alright?" Jeremy prompted again. She nodded, feining a smile, but neither of them were convinced.

"Is something wrong?" She fell silent, but only for a few moments.

"I'm just thinking," she said, "about these nightmares I've been having recently."

"Is it the-"

"Same one? Yes, yes it is." Aelita cut Jeremy off, already knowing exactly what he would say.

Both Jeremy and Ulrich were silent, exchanging worried glances. Neither of them were the best at consoling Aelita, but how could they? Ulrich was never close with his family, and Jeremy's were still very much alive and active. Neither of them had ever seen what she had. Even having spent years with Aelita, Jeremy was still speechless in times like these, but it wasn't anything that Aelita held against him.

"You'd think that 20 years might take a the edge off a bit." She muttered to herself. Jeremy reached across the table, and softly took her hand into his.

"You went through something that no kid should have ever gone through." He said. "Something like that won't just wear off, but no matter how much more time it takes, we're right here with you." Aelita looked up at Jeremy with a soft smile, but it was short lived.

"The main thing I'm worried about is the timing of it all. I haven't had these dreams in years, and now I'm having them every other night, just out of the blue?" She paused. "You don't think that-"

"Not a chance." Ulrich interjected, dismissing her concern with a wave of his hand. "It's done." His confidence would've inspired anyone else to believe him, but there were still thoughts that nagged at the back of Aelita's mind, pushing her to believe otherwise. Jeremy, taking note of her expression, rubbed his thumb over the top of her hand, gently gathering her attention.

"What if we went and took a look after school today? Do you think that would help?"

Aelita considered this for quite some time. Returning to the old site could very well reassure her that it was indeed all over, but it could also allow nearly forgotten strife and turmoil to resurface. She shook her head.

"No. I don't think going back would help at all. If anything that might make it worse."

"How about a distraction then?" Jeremy offered. Aelita shot him an inquisitive look. "Why don't we go to the cinema tonight, and see what's playing?" Thinking on this for a moment, she broke into a smile.

"That does sound like fun. Any it could help me get my mind off of things for a while. Plus, it has been a while since we've been on a date."

"Then it's settled." Said Jeremy. He gave the hand of his wife a few more reassuring carresses before turning his attention to his food, and to Ulrich, although he never let go of Aelita's hand. The two of them talked for a little bit about the cinema down the road, and about finding films that might even make Odd's old short films seem good by comparison. Aelita, however, couldn't stomach simple conversation. Try as she might, she still couldn't distract herself from the nightmares.

" _That's just what they are; nightmares."_ She said to herself in her head. " _Just nightmares, nothing more."_

Jonah's focus was, as it normally was, elsewhere. While Arno and Max held a quiet discussion at the lunch table, Jonah's eyes were scanning every corner of the room. He sat backwards on the bench, giving casual greetings to everybody that passed him, not even touching his lunch.

"Incredible." Max spoke both to Arno, and to himself as he flipped through the pages of the notebook. "I wish to read French, too. The computer talk is code, no french, just numbers, cracked words. There's so much read!"

"I swear, one of these days I'm going to buy a french textbook for you so I can understand what you're trying to say." Arno muttered. His mood was never sunny, but today it was especially foul, through no fault of Max or Jonah's. Ever since they had discovered the computer, he felt as though he had to watch his back, and sleep hadn't been very easy, either.

They'd only returned to Lyoko a few times since their first visit, and every time it was to the same ice bridge and deep blue horizon, but today was different. Today, after lunch, they were going to try again, and explore. Arno wasn't the least bit happy about this desicion. He had constantly tried to disuade Jonah and Max from exploring further, and he juggled the idea of simply forgetting about the computer himself, and leaving them to their own devices. Then he remembered that Jonah had no sense of self preservation, and would be left in the hands of someone who could barely piece together half-coherent sentences. Every time he remembered that, he was reminded why he couldn't leave them by themselves.

Max went on about the book, and slowly but surely Arno was able to put the pieces together; he couldn't read French, or write it, or speak it, but he was able to put together the scripts that were comprised completely of either binary code, or universal terms. Of course, most of the Journal was comprised of this code, with only small fragments of written word scattered throughout. Arno had taken a few peeks at the pages, but the written words only explained the functions of it all, not the story behind it.

"I still can't understand how the two of you are so easygoing about all of this." Said Arno. "This is insane." He half expected Jonah to pipe up about how he was free to leave at any time, but the boy said nothing. Almost surprised, Arno turned to see if he were still alive, and found that something (or rather, someone) had caught his attention.

Across the way was a girl, on whom Jonah's eyes were glued. She was tall, dainty, and fair, with freckles up and down her face. Her blond hair was long, and heavy enough to weigh itself down on her back without being held together by a hair tie. She wore a beige, almost cream colored sweater, and sat with only one other individual. He looked as though he were an opposite of her; dark skin, dark clothes, dark eyes, he didn't look too dissimilar from Arno, except his face was without blemish, his skin was a few shades darker, and his hair was nothing more than a layer of fuz on his head. He wore jeans and a red t-shirt, and Arno took note of the fact that both of them wore an identical golden band on their wrists.

"Jonah." Arno nudged the boy's back, but failed to shake him.

"That is the prettiest girl I have ever seen." The boy breathed, staring intently at her.

"Oh boy." Arno shook Jonah's shoulder, snagging his focus. "Jonah, don't stare." The boy, after some hesitation, did as he was told, and he turned his attention back to the others.

"She was so pretty! Did you see her?"

"Yes, I did, and I didn't have to stare at her to do so." He put his arm on Jonah's shoulder in an attempt to get him to focus, but almost as soon as he'd done so, he felt his shoulder slip away. He turned, and Jonah was gone.

"Jonah?" He looked around, and somehow the boy who stood out like a sore thumb had slipped into the small crowd of students. Then he managed to spot him pop up at another table; the same table with the blond girl and the boy. "Oh my god." Arno grumbled. "We need to get that kid a leash."

"Little monkey." Said Max. Arno wasn't going to bother trying to translate that. He watched Jonah climb onto the bench just opposite the girl. He spoke, and she seemed receptive enough, at least she didn't shove him away as soon as he opened his mouth. The two of them seemed to hold a conversation, but before long, the sound of a bell rang out above their heads. Lunch was over.

"Do you wanna go get him, or should I?" Asked Arno, turning back to Max, who shot him a half-eyed stare. "Alright, I'll go." He rose from his seat and took a few steps over to where Jonah now sat.

"Time to go buddy." He said, without stopping for more than a moment before he started to walk away. He heard Jonah give off a groan.

"But I only just started talking!"

"Yes, and now it's time to leave, you can talk again next time."

"But she's super friendly!" He tried to resist as Arno pulled him along, but they both stopped when the girl spoke up.

"It's alright! I'll just come with!" She said, quickly packing her things, just as the boy beside her did the same. Unlike her, he was silent, his lips not even parting to breathe.

"No, it's ok, you don't have to, I would hate to be a bother." Arno tried to hurry Jonah along, but the girl and the boy were up and out of their seats shockingly fast.

"Oh please," she said, "you're not a bother at all!"

"Yeah, well, we have to get to class anyways."

"Which class?"

"French." Said Max.

"Defense against the Dark Arts!" Cried Jonah.

"English." Said Arno, stepping infront of the both of them.

"That's perfect!" The girl slung a bag over her shoulder, and her silent companion stepped forward to stay by her side. "I have that class too, we can walk together." Arno and Max stole a glance at each other, each one giving the other a quick and soft shake of the head. Then Arno spoke again.

"I'm sorry, I meant to say that we have math next." The girl gestured with her shoulder over to the boy by her side.

"That's alright. He has math class next, I want to walk him to class anyways." Again, Max and Arno stole a look. Max was confused, but Arno was silently fuming.

"No, we have to go the long way anyways, Jonah has a few things to grab from his room.

"I do?" Before Jonah could utter a single other incriminating word, Arno shoved him along.

"Good to meet you, by the way." Said Arno, before he pushed Jonah out of the cafeteria, followed by Max. They walked for a few minutes across the campus, and Arno was constantly looking over his shoulder to make sure they weren't followed. "Kid, I swear that I'm gonna start to keep you on a leash, got it?"

"But the skin on my neck chafes!"

"Then I'll get one of those little backpack leashes!"

"Really?" Jonah looked up with sparkling eyes. "I love those things! My mom used to have a bunch of them!" Arno's hand raised up to his face.

"Not another word, kid." At this point, Arno's steps were so wide that both Jonah and Max were practically jogging to keep up with him.

"Back to the beep beep machine?" Asked Max. They both assumed he meant the old car factory, but then again 'beep beep machine' could be anything.

"You mean the factory?" Arno's low tone was somethign akin to a growl. "Yes, I suppose so."

"Field trip!" Jonah exclaimed. Both of the others simultaniously shushed him.

"We don't want a conga!" Max said, in a hushed tone. Despite his more carefree attitude with all of this, even he was a bit uptight after that conversation. He and Arno both knew that being followed wouldn't be good for anyone.

Walking across the courtyard, they took constant glances over their shoulders to make sure they weren't followed.

Only after passing through the campus gates, walking the sidewalk that lined it, and crossing the road that led into the gaping maw of the old car factory, did the two boys allow their guard to fall. The din of the outside world was enough to cover whatever volume they made now.

"Jonah, I swear I'm gonna duck tape your mouth shut." Arno snapped. Jonah's eyes lowered to the ground.

"Sorry." He muttered. His apology was certainly sincere, but even so Arno wouldn't let him off the hook so easily.

"Come on." A swift pat on the back was enough to get the boy moving again. "Let's just get down there, you can pick up a conversation later." Jonah, followed by the other two, made his way down to the main chamber of the factory. The three of them walked almost in single file, silent, constantly watching over their shoulders, until they boarded the elevator tram, and slid the doors shut.

The car shook, then hummed, then it slowly began to descend into the heart of the factory. The second it disappeared below the concrete floor, the coast was clear, and Trisha peered over the edge. She stared at where it had been as though it would come right back up.

"Shoot. Lost them." She said, brushing a few strands of her blond hair back behind her ear. She knew that wherever that elevator was, there had to be another way to get to it. "Come on Oliver." She said, before shoving herself back onto her feet, and walking the narrow concrete path that led down to the vast coridor. Behind her walked her brother, Oliver. Unlike her, he was barely vocal at all. If he were invisible, most people would've even realize he was there. He followed her closely, nervously looking in all directions with his hands knit together, and his brow furrowed.

"Don't worry Oliver, we'll be fine!" She assured him. Even without any vocal cues she could feel his discomfort as he stepped behind her. She walked in front for this very reason; if she had allowed him to lead the way, they might not have ever gotten anywhere. He followed her closely until they reached the space where the elevator would have been. Trisha peered down the shaft, scanning the dark walls until her eyes finally came to rest on a ladder built into the concrete. Not wanting to waste any time, she drew back the sleeves of her cream colored sweater, and stuffed her hair into the its neck.

"Come on, let's go!" Even as she twisted around to take a few steps down the ladder, her companion waved his hands furiously, as if shouting 'no', without even opening his mouth. She paid him no mind, and despite his reservations, he cautiously descended behind her.

The vertical tunnel was lengthy, and Trisha was certain that she could see cobwebs in the dim light. She and Oliver climbed down the shaft as quietly as they could. Whatever those two kids were doing with Jonah, it seemed suspicious. They seemed to be in a hurry to drag the boy away, which caught their attention. They'd managed to track the small group across campus, and then out the doors.

" _What in the world are they doing in an abandoned factory?"_ She wondered to herself. They slowly made their way down, causing the elevator to draw closer and closer to them, until they touched their feet to the roof of the tram. They settled quietly, and removed a pannel from the ceiling of the elevator. That's when the voices poured through the opening.

The three of them were still in front of the tram, standing in a room lit with a strange green light. The one that was talking, the boy with messy black hair, spoke in very broken words, so much so that Trisha couldn't tell what he was trying to get at, and apparently neither could the other two.

"Why the hell did you come to France if you can't speak French?" Asked the dark skinned boy. Trisha saw the other one reply with a shrug, and then the three of them delved deeper into the room, past Trisha's line of sight. She waited for a few moments, listening to the sound of their footsteps as they trailed off. Then, she dipped her head into the opening, and looked into the room.

Fortunately for her, they all had their backs turned to her. She was able to get an unobstructed view of the massive room, and everything within. She was stunned.

The entire room looked like something out of a sci-fi book. At the center of the room was a strange glowing platform, and in front of that, there were a set of computer monitors and a chair in which the black haired boy was now sitting. There was a strange green glow that permeated the room, and the three spoke in voices that were only just barely audible from where she was.

"So what now?" Asked the dark skinned boy.

"We explore!" Jonah quipped. The tone of his voice was pure excitement, and he was almost jumping as he spoke. "We've been to Lyoko like three times already, and all we do is hop in, then hop out! You've seen the map, it looks like there are lots of other places to explore!"

"We barely even know anything about the one place we've seen! We should explore the ice before we move onto anything else."

"But we've seen the ice! What about the other places?"

"The other places can wait until we know exactly what it is that we're getting involved in."

"But we won't know what we're getting involved in if we don't actually dive into things!"

Trisha listened to the conversation devolve into a shouting match between Jonah and the other boy. They shot back and forth trying to convince the other of their position, but in the end, both of them appeared stuck. That's about when Trisha started to lose her footing.

"This isn't something we can be reckless about!" Arno's arms were crossed over his puffed out chest. "We don't even know what this place is about, and you're just diving in headfirst because it looks like a fun game? This could be dangerous! This could be restricted! And what's more, we don't want to attract the wrong kind of attention!"

"But we haven't drawn in any attention so far!" Jonah responded, as Max once again turned his head towards the speaker. "Don't you think someone would have already found out if this was something bad?" Arno bit his tongue. For once, Jonah had brought up a decent point; the group would have already been caught, if this were truly a military machine. Of course, that wouldn't stop him from worrying, but it was something to consider. Fortunately for Arno, he wouldn't have to find a rebuttal to Jonah's point.

The three of them heard a sharp grunt from the elevator, and Jonah immediately shuffled behind Arno, hiding from the intruder. He hid for only a moment before his face lit up.

"It's you!" He called out.

"You?!" Arno growled. The same girl that they'd seen in the cafeteria was now rubbing her back with a low, pained groan. Arno examined her; blond hair, cream sweater, the golden band on her wrist, it was the same girl alright, although she was missing her companion. "What the hell are you doing here?!" He stomped over to her, loud and aggressive enough for her to take on a defensive stance. He stopped just short of the elevator floor, hands balled up by his sides.

"What are **you** doing here?!" She shot back. "What is this place?"

"That's not important." Arno snapped.

"Oh isn't it? Then it wouldn't be a problem if every student at Kadic knew about it then?" Arno's face went as white as it could get, then it flushed red. He remained silent.

"Oh, I wanna explain!" Jonah took a few quick steps to join Arno and the girl. "This is a-" Arno's hand clamped over the boy's mouth, turning his words into a surprised muffled shout.

"How do we know we can trust you?" He asked.

"Trust _me?_ How do I know I can trust you!"

"Because I'm not the one who followed people around!"

"You seemed like you were up to something! I had to make sure that Jonah here was gonna be safe!"

"Believe me, I'm the only thing keeping this kid safe, he has no sense of self preservation!"

"So then this is something dangerous!"

"Yes! I mean, no! I'm still trying to figure it out!"

Maxwell watched as the shouting match grew, and he pulled a small snack food container out of his back before starting to eat. Finally, it was Jonah who broke up the commotion.

"Please be quiet!" He said. His face was visibly agitated, and his volume was enough to silence the other two. "Please, no shouting." He muttered. Everyone remained quiet for a moment, until Arno huffed through his nose, turning to the girl again.

"So long as you promise not to tell a soul, I'll tell you everything I know." She nodded.

"Deal. But, first." She turned to the elevator. "Oliver! You can come down now!" Her voice was soft as she called out to the unseen figure, and after a few moments, a the boy from the cafeteria dropped down, landing on the floor, and walking out of the car. He was, as he was before, silent. He stayed a few steps behind her, cautiously scanning the environment with wide eyes. As he did so, the girl reached out her hand. "Trisha. Trisha Yeeno. And this is my adopted brother, Oliver." After a moment's hesitation, Arno reached out in turn, shaking her hand.

"Arno Luma. This is Jonah, and Maxwell." He pointed back to the boy at the computer, who waved to Trisha. She smiled.

"Good. So, now that we all know each other, you have quite a bit of explaining to do."

Authors notes-

I actually felt pretty good about this chapter, or at least everything past the midpoint. Tell me if you enjoy it; I'm trying out a new writing style after having listened to a few of the Halo novels.

I'm still busy with school, and I'm still worldbuilding for my novel all the while, so I'll try to have these chapters out as frequently as I can get them.

I know it's been a slow start, but trust me, things will start to pick up here pretty soon.


	7. Chapter 7- Code Glitch

Arno had done most of the explaining. Jonah and Maxwell both occasionally attempted to interject, but Jonah had such little grasp of the situation, and Maxwell's language barrier was difficult to surmount. Over the next half hour, Arno had explained everything he knew to Trisha and Oliver, from the first day he and Jonah had found the super computer, to the day they virtualized themselves, to today; the day they'd set aside to explore the rest of the the strange world.

Trisha and Oliver took the information well, or at least they didn't immediately call Arno mad, but how could they? They had the computer right before their eyes, and the room itself was something out of a science fiction novel. As Arno had been explaining, Trisha had taken to walking about the room, examining everything her eyes crossed. They were full of wonder, but not absent of fear.

"This," she finally said when Arno had finished talking, "is incredible."

"It's potentially dangerous." Arno shot back. She didn't respond, instead, she went about running her fingers over the machines, as though to test and see if they weren't actually a mirage. "But now you know, and if you feel so inclined, you can now leave."

"Leave?" She turned back to Arno, taking a few hasty steps in his direction. "Oh we're not leaving. I want to see how this works."

"Well, we could virtualize you!" Jonah piped up. Both of them turned to him, Arno with frustration, Trisha with curiosity. He continued. "We were going to virtualize ourself anyways! Max might not know French, but he knows code! We could bring you with us!"

"Out of the question." Arno snapped.

"What? Why? You said it yourself, you were going to go anyways, and you've been in and out several times!" Trisha argued. "Why can't we go?"

"Because this is your first time. We don't know what else is out there, we don't know what we'll find. You're staying here, until we know what's in the other-" He stopped, and turned to the computer. "Max! What are these things called?" Max peeked out from behind the computer screen, looking where Arno was now pointing his finger.

"Lyoko?"

"No! The things on Lyoko!"

"Sectors?"

"Yes! The sectors." He looked back, and started to address Trisha again. "You're staying put until we know what on the other sectors hold, got it?"

"Not a chance." Arno had already stepped away, but Trisha's arm shot out and grabbed his shoulder. He gasped, threw it off, and spun around with a snarl so quickly that it stunned both himself, and Trisha. She eyed him wearily as his expression softened, slowly, until it was back to his natural scowl.

For some time, their eyes were locked, as though they were scanning each other, neither one willing to give any ground to the other. At last, Arno surrendered.

"If you go in, you do what I say, when I say. Got it?"

"Within reason." She replied. That seemed to be enough for Arno, who (with a hefty growl) gestured over to the elevator.

"You two, onto the elevator. You too, Jonah. Maxwell, get ready to send us down."

"Yes yes!" Max called. He spun the seat around to face the computer again, and his hands flew to the keys.

One by one, all four of the children boarded the elevator, and the doors slid shut behind them.

The car began to slide down the shaft, and all the while Oliver looked about as pale as he could get. Clearly he wasn't much for words; he hadn't said a thing in the time that he'd been there, and he stuck very close to Trisha the entire time, and away from everyone else. Arno would've tried to reassure him, but it looked like that would just make things worse for him, so instead, he just kept his gaze forward.

The car came to an abrupt halt, throwing Trisha and Oliver off balance as the doors slid open. Jonah and Arno were accustomed to seeing the scanners, but the other two released an audible gasp as the bright orange lights flooded the cabin.

"Welcome to the scanner room." Said Arno as he stepped out, followed quickly by Jonah. He moved to the center of the room, and turned to face the others. "Jonah and I will go first. You follow our lead. When the pod opens, step inside. Just don't panic, and stand still if you can." As the others were still absorbing his instructions, he called out to Maxwell. "Max! Start the program! Jonah and I are going in, followed by Trisha and Oliver!"

"Aye aye!" Max's voice was followed by the clacking of eyes, and two of the pod doors opened. The glow on their interior spilled out, casting itself over all four of the children. Arno looked to Jonah, and with a curt nod, both of them stepped into the container.

"Remember, don't panic, and try not to move. Oh, and remember to take a deep breath before the process starts." Said Arno, as the doors to the cabin sealed themselves shut. There was the found of hums and whirs coming from inside the machine, and both Trisha and Oliver found themselves paralyzed in both fear and amazement. They stood, rooted to the spot while the intensity of the noises grew more and more, until at last, they ceased.

When the doors opened once more, the cabins were empty. No sign of Jonah or Arno anywhere.

"Hey, where did they go?" Asked Trisha.

"Lyoko!" Max replied. "Get ready!" The pods began to glow again. Trisha fet the warmth all over her person, as though the machine was trying to invite her inside. The noise of the machine wasn't overpowering, but her anxiety was deafening. Only after Oliver laid his hand on her shoulder, did she even move her head. His eyes were full of worry and fear. Her's weren't so different, but she knew that if either of them would make the first move, it would be her.

She gently pressed her hand against his, and feined a smile.

"It'll be ok Oliver." She reassured him. "I'll see you on the other side, ok?" He didn't seem fully convinced, but at the very least he did release her shoulder.

Trisha and Oliver parted ways, and each stepped into a different pod. As she turned to face the rest of the room, she caught sight of the worry displayed on her brothers face. She gave him a smile; a final reassurance that she couldn't offer to herself.

"It'll be ok." She said, one last time. The doors closed, and shut out the outside world. As the glow began to intensify, Arno's instructions came back to her.

" _Don't panic, don't move."_ She reminded herself. " _Don't panic, don't move. Don't panic, don't move."_ Then she remembered the last part of the instructions. " _Take a deep breath before it starts. Why? Why do I need to-"_ Without warning, the whole of her body became stiff, and starting from her toes, she began to grow numb. Trisha couldn't feel anything beneath her waist, but more importantly, she couldn't breathe, then she couldn't see.

At last, color returned to her world, but beyond the familiar colors, she didn't recognize a thing. Feeling was slowly returning to her from the top down, and with that came control of her limbs. She flexed her fingers as though she might never feel them again, and the second she could breathe, she did so fiercely.

It only took a few seconds for feeling to return to her body, but those seconds felt so much longer than they should've. She knew she was floating high above the ground, but it wasn't until her feet came back into being that she fell. Her feet met the ground, followed by her knees, and then her face.

The ground was cold, and for whatever reason her ears didn't feel fully functional. The voices that she could hear were distant, muddled, like she was under water. Trisha quickly pushed herself up off of the ground, and shoved herself to a standing position with her arms near to her chest.

"Welcome to Lyoko."

There were two figured standing before her. One was obviously Jonah, with his bright hair and smile, but his standard attire had been replaced with a set of green robes, and a large, wide brimmed point-tipped hat, like the wizards she'd seen before in old children's books. The other one stood much taller, by at least a head and a half, and was dressed almost entirely in black. Unlike Jonah, he was imposing almost to the point of being frightening, and on his face was a mask that bore paint in the vague shape of a skull. It was definitely Arno.

"What the hell?" She staggered back a few paces, her head swiftly swiveling left and right. All she saw was ice and water, towers and glaciers, blocks large and small. She'd seen snow and ice before back home, but nothing like this. "Where are we? What is this?" She didn't leave time for the others to answer her questions before another more pressing one entered her mind. "Where's Oliver?" She twisted around, screaming his name. "Oliver!" She waited, then screamed again over the words of Arno. At first, there was nothing but silence to meet her cries, but then she heard a sound overhead.

She recognized the form that was taking shape as Oliver, immediately. He was taller than her, almost at Arno's height, and just slender enough to match Oliver's physique. He slowly materialized in the same was as Trisha had; from the top down, and slowly.

As his head became visible through the rendering mesh, she knew it was him, but she didn't recognize the clothes that were appearing with him.

His shoulders, elbows, wrists, every joint was covered in a dark brown leather, and beneath all of that, there was a clear red cloth that ran from his neck, to his feet. He looked something akin to a fantasy forest ranger, armored lightly and well equipped with a bow slung over his shoulder, a quiver full of arrows, and a set of throwing knives on his legs. Trisha took a few steps forward, both admiring the new attire, and preparing to catch him when he fell. She counted down the seconds until he was fully virtualized, and as he took a sudden breath in, he fell from the sky.

Although she had prepared to catch him, she wasn't prepared enough, and he fell directly on top of her, forcing her down onto the ground with a very audible "Oof!"

It took a few moments for Oliver to realize who he was sitting on, but the second he did, he very quickly moved off of Trisha, and tried to help her up. Although he didn't audibly say 'sorry', Trisha recognized his hand motions as an apology, an open palm and worried eyes could've told anyone that.

"It's ok, I'm ok." She assured him, taking his arm to help herself up off of the ground. "Are you ok? Are you alright?" Her question almost threw him off balance, but he did manage to nod as he pulled her up to her feet. Even if Trisha couldn't feel the cold of the ice around her, she did still feel a bit of welcomed warmth as Oliver ensured she was balanced enough to stand. "Thank you." She said to him, to which he replied with a friendly nod. Oliver stepped back, looking Trisha up and down, just as Arno and Jonah were doing a few paces away.

"Alright," said Arno, "you look pretty damn cool, I'll give you that much."

"What?" For the first time, Trisha looked down at herself. "Whoa." Almost her entire body was covered in shining silver plates. She looked as though she could smash her body into a wall, and walk away with less damage. The plates were laid on thick, and every last joint was protected, while still offering enough flexibility for her to defend herself with. The only thing surface that covered the plates themselves was a wide white cape on her back, and upon reaching back to feel the cape, her hands encountered two strange shapes. She pulled them off of her back, and upon doing so they suddenly opened, and spiraled out into large shields that were almost half as tall as she was. Without even having used them, she already felt ready to take on anything, and she couldn't deny that she did look pretty cool.

As she examined her armor, Arno stepped forward, and began to speak.

"Welcome to Lyoko." He said again. "This is the ice sector. And if you'll follow me, I'll fill you in on what we know so far.

"Another day, finally done." Aelita put all of her papers in a stack, and tapped them against the desk. Her students were out of the room, and once again she was alone with her thoughts. The rest of the day was hers, as she'd been ahead of schedule on grading papers, and the lesson plan for the year was long since thought out. With the exception of date night with Jeremy later, she was free to do as she pleased.

As she gathered her things, she sorted through her thoughts, trying to figure out what she wanted to do with this day. She knew that she didn't want to do more programming work today, but that was about all she knew.

"At least back then there wasn't a dull moment." She muttered to herself. At last, she'd collected everything that she needed, and with her folders under her arm, she set off for the door.

Then she heard something.

She twisted about. Aelita could've sworn that she'd heard some sort of static coming from her computer, but upon a distant inspection, she found nothing. Still, a double check couldn't hurt. She stepped over to her desk, and moved the mouse of the computer around. The desktop monitor woke up, and displayed her screensaver. There was nothing out of the ordinary. She was curious, but also in a bit of a hurry, and she moved swiftly out of the room to meet with Jeremy.

As she walked through the hallway, she was careful not to run into any of the students that were still wandering the halls. With her papers clutched to her chest, she made her way out of the building, and from there it only took her a few minutes for her to reach the car, where Jeremy was already waiting.

He greeted her with a smile and a wave, a motion that she reciprocated.

"Hi Jeremy." She said, resting her papers on the roof of the car as she reached for the door. "Are you ready to go?" He nodded.

"I am. Are you?"

"Yep."

"Alright then, let's get going." The two of them opened their doors, and stepped into the car. They exchanged a few words about the day as Jeremy slipped the keys into the ignition, talking about their students, their work, their co workers, as much small talk as two teachers could exchange. Then their conversation was abruptly stopped.

Their car wasn't the most advanced, although their combined salaries, along with the revenu that came from their work as professional programmers, offered them enough funds to purchase a low end luxury vehicle. It was entirely electronic, with a system computer that controlled most of the functions. The vehicle was a very recent purchase, which is why it was so strange when the center screen flickered and died, followed by the car itself.

The abrupt shut down threw them both off, and Jeremy was slow to start the car again. He turned the keys, and the engine roared the life once again as though it hadn't just shut off.

"That's weird." Said Jeremy. He waited to see if the car would shut down again, but it didn't. It simply hummed, waiting for Jeremy's input.

"What happened?"

"I don't know, but that was weird." He faltered for a moment, looking around the car to make sure everything was running properly. "If that happens again I'll take it to the dealership to get it checked out. It's definitely still under warranty."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Say what you want, but I don't like that dealership. It's so slow."

"At least that gives us some time to work."

"Fair enough, but I'd rather work on the comfort of the couch, than in that place." Their car troubles were at an end, but it was strange enough that Aelita's thoughts drifted back to her computer, and how it had come alive with no reason or warning, but in the end she thought nothing of it. This was an old school that had been around since her father was young, and faulty wiring was nothing new. Nonetheless, she humored the thoughts for a little longer, wondering if there was a connection between the two. In the end, her logical mind found no link between the two events, and she forgot all about it by the time she and Jeremy arrived at their home.

They lived not far from Kadic Academy. In fact, it was just about a ten minute drive, and a ten minute walk. When the two of them had decided to become teachers at Kadic, they decided that they wanted to live nearby, and this quaint little home in the forest was the perfect place. _The Hermitage_ was carved into the front gate. Back before they'd decided to live here, the entire building was in disrepair. Now, it stood with vibrant colors painted across its surface, and the rotting wood was replaced with strong and hardy planks. It looked just about good as new.

"I just have to get changed and put my documents in the office, and then I'll be ready to go." Said Jeremy. True to his word, Aelita knew he would be ready in no time at all. In no time at all, they would be on their way to the movies, and the memories of her nightmares would be just that; memories, no more vivid than those of the school day.

One last time, her nightmare resurfaced. It was strange more than anything. She hadn't thought of those events in years, and now without warning they were back, as though she was still fighting against Xana.

Aelita shook the thoughts from her head, and Jeremy noticed.

"Are you ok sweetheart?" He asked. He had already taken the steps up to the front door, but he was quick to return to Aelita's side. He held her hand and rested his other arm across her back.

"Yes, I'm ok." She said, holding one hand against her forehead. "Just trying to shake away the nightmare."

Jeremy rubbed her back in large circles, softly guiding her towards the front door.

"It's ok Aelita. I'm here." His words were reassuring. He wasn't often the best at consoling her, as he still knew how to deal with computer code better than people, but he tried his best. Aelita appreciated that.

With his help, she entered the building, and he took a few extra moments to ensure she was stable, before leaving to go get dressed.

As she waited, she took a long look around the room. The bookshelves whose contents were once scattered across the floor were now neat and tidy, and a few of them had been replaced with their own personal servers. A few computer lined the walls, along with large monitors that they two of them constantly worked with. Their living room alone was the envy of tech workers across the world. When she was younger, she never would have dreamed of living in a place like this, of having a life like this. In the silence of the moment, despite the nightmares and constantly nagging thoughts, she felt happy. This life was all she'd ever wanted.

Then, she heard a noise.

Jeremy adjusted his white button down shirt and light blue tie. He knew that the movies were a very casual event, but he still enjoyed being professional outside of school, or at least looking as orderly as he could. He pushed his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose, and brushed his fluffy blond hair one last time. He was ready to go, and his mood was at a high point. He stepped towards the door, but the second he touched the knob, his blood went cold.

From downstairs, he heard the unmistakable sound of a scream. It was Aelita. He threw open the door and rushed down the stairs, his feet barely tapping against the steps as he did so.

"Aelita!" He shouted down the stairs, landing on the bottom step and coming across a terrible sight. Aelita was on the ground, shuffling away from their work computers. They had been tipped over, and one of them had been torn open, but there wasn't another person in the room besides the two of them. What there was instead, was a single lengthy arm composed of black smoke. It was writing around, and from the arm came a sound like a low guttural scream. It looked so very familiar, but Jeremy wasn't about to think about that.

He rushed forward, and grabbed one of the chairs that had been thrown to the floor. He hoisted the chair above his head, and slammed it down into the tendril of smoke. It screamed again, and like a turtles head it retracted quickly, back into the computer that had been torn open. The static hiss that the smoke had emitted quickly turned to silence. Jeremy and Aelita were speechless.

Shaking himself from his stupor, Jeremy stepped, and knelt down next to Aelita. She was in shock, her eyes wide, her mouth stammering in broken silence. Jeremy did all that he could, brushing his hands through her hair and lifting her up to a seated position. The only words he could bring himself to say were "it's ok," and he struggled to even convince himself.

He stayed by her side, struggling to calm her down, but he knew he most likely wouldn't be able to. That form, that smoke, there was only one thing he knew of that could have possibly created that.

With shaking hands, he reached for his phone. His fingers tapped against the screen, and he moved the device up to his ears. He waited, and the ringing of the phone did nothing to soothe his nerves. Finally, he heard a click at the other end.

"Hey Jeremy, what's up?" Said Ulrich.

"Ulrich, get to the factory. Now."

"Max, is there anything on the radar?" Arno asked. He was of course being as vigilant as he could, but there was only so much he could do when there were towers of ice spiraling to the sky in every direction. They'd been on Lyoko for almost an hour now, and not a single monster had reared its head. He was cautious as always, but his peers were anything but.

"Nothing." Max replied. The four of them had been walking for some time now, and across the ice bridge, there'd been nothing but more ice. Well, almost nothing.

They'd been few, and very far between, but every once in a while the team caught sight of strange white spires with black roots that dug into the ground. These towers were all glowing with a strange white aura, one that almost looked haunting. They hadn't gone near one yet, as their main objective was just to explore, but Arno couldn't shake the feeling that they were important.

Jonah, on the other hand, stuck to Trisha's side like glue. He spent most of his time talking, showing off his outfit and his staff to the two new members of the team. They seemed the humor him enough. Trisha even held up a conversation with him, as though he were the most interesting thing in a science fiction virtual universe. Oliver, on the other hand, hadn't said a word the entire time. In fact, Arno was beginning to doubt that the boy could speak at all. He seemed defensive, withdrawn. Arno could relate to that.

He hadn't seen any monsters yet, but he was almost certain that they could hold their own if they encountered any. Arno's mace and Jonah's staff had been enough for the occasional monster that popped up before, but now they had two shields, a bow, and a set of throwing knives at their disposal too. They were prepared for whatever fight the world would throw their way.

"What's that?" At first, Arno paid no mind to Trisha's question, thinking that she was talking to Jonah, and either way the chances he would have an answer for her were very low.

"I don't actually know." Jonah replied. This caught Arno's attention, but not enough for him to actually turn around until he was called on. "Hey Arno?" He turned at the sound of his name, but before his eyes had even reached Jonah, they were snagged by something else.

"What in the world?" Off in the distance, there was another one those strange towers. It was on a wide plateau of ice, with nothing to disrupt the view. It was just like all the others, with one exception; its aura was glowing a dark red, and even from a ways away they could hear it humming, growling.

"That's not happened before?" Trisha asked. Arno simply examined the structure, looking for anything that could tell them what it was, but he found nothing.

"Maybe it's an objective!" Jonah cried out, and without much more than that, he took off in the direction of the red tower, followed by quick and unsuccessful orders from Arno to stop.

"Jonah!" He shouted after him, but it failed to stop the boy. He released a frustrated growl, and took off after him. "Come on," he told the others, beckoning for them to follow, "Lets go get him."

The second Ulrich had ended the call between him and Jeremy, he immediately dialed up another number. He struggled to keep the phone up to his ear as he made his way across the field.

"Hey Ulrich, what's up?" Said the voice at the other end of the line.

"Yumi!" Ulrich struggled to take in enough air to talk as he ran. "Get to the factory, now!" He heard silence, but then, he heard the sound of shattering glass, followed quickly by a stammer.

"What-" Before she could ask her full question, Ulrich continued.

"Jeremy and Aelita just called me. They think that they just saw Xana. Just get to the factory, I'll explain it all when you get there!" Then he ended the call. He wasn't 100% certain if Xana was back, but from what Jeremy and Aelita had said, this couldn't have been anything else. In the back of his mind, he wanted to doubt that they'd seen anything at all, and he caught himself praying that they were wrong, because if they weren't, then he, Yumi, Jeremy, and Aelita were the only people who could do anything about it.

The supercomputer began to beep as the screen flashed with red. A few different windows popped up, none of which Max had full time to read. One of the windows was a general scan, with a myriad of strange pillars that lined the window. It cycled through them, one after another, until it landed on one that began to flash red.

"Uh oh. Bad." He said to himself. He began to sort through the windows. He was already aware of the existence of the towers, as he and the others had seen them while wandering the great ice planes, but one had never activated like this. He wasn't sure what it meant for them, and he wasn't sure how to figure out.

"Max, what's this? Why's that tower red, is that normal?" Arno's questioned went unanswered, at least while Max spent the time to look through every tool at his disposal. The red flashing probably meant that it was a bad thing, but aside from that, he knew nothing.

"Red bad, right?"

"I have a feeling that that's just about the most coherent answer I'm gonna get. We're going to check it out."

"Aye aye!" Max replied, still sifting through the various windows. None of the screens before him did anything to explain themselves, only displaying the least bit of information that they had to in order to function. Max was going into this situation blind.

He hummed to himself while he sifted through the pages of the old journal. It hadn't left his side once in the past few weeks, but even so, he couldn't seem to find exactly what he was looking for.

"Stupid." He snapped the book shut. Max was on his own.

A noise behind him caught him off guard. It wasn't the elevator doors, nor was it the sound of footsteps. In fact, alongside the sound of metal scraping against metal, he heard the crackling of electricity. It was a sound that, when isolated, he was used to, but this was anything but. The crackling noise came in a stream, unending, and now accompanied by the sounds of crashing metal.

Max spun around in his seat. The scene before him was mostly the same as it always was, but the ground beneath him was beginning to glow. He watched in confused terror as the pannels that made up the ground beneath him were beginning to seperate. Small cracks formed on their surface, and those cracks began to bleed a strange smoke-like aura. It was black, with flecks of grey, red, purple, and all manner of dark colors swirling in the mist. Like a phantom, it began to dance and sway, emitting a strange haunting breath-like sound. It spent some time to form into one amorphous shape, but as it grew to its full height it began to grow something akin to a set of arms. It towered over Max, who had long since stepped out of his seat. He took slow steps backwards, as though the beast could detect his movements. His body was convulsing, shaking in pure terror as the beast unleashed a roar. Max screamed, but there was nobody around who could help him. Max was on his own.

It had been a very long time since Yumi had heard the words Ulrich had said over the phone. They still echoed in her head, _get to the factory_ , over and over, like a ghost that refused to leave. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her, with her arms pumping at her sides.

As she ran, she found herself blessing the clouds; it would've been more difficult to run in her current attire if it had been sunny out. Her clothes were as dark as ever, and her fashion sense had barely changed in the page 20 years. A black shirt and pants were all that she needed. The only thing that had changed was her hair. When it wasn't done in a braid, it reached down to her mid back, although when it was in a braid it only reached down to the top of her back. Despite it being shorter, it didn't fail to stay of her face. Her hair was constantly tapping against her back, and every once in a while it even came around and slapped her face, but in times like these she couldn't bring herself to care.

The others would already be at the factory by the time she got there, and with any luck they would have already dealt with the problem. Nonetheless, she continued to run as fast as she could. The sooner she got there, the better.

Ulrich's hands hadn't felt ropeburn in a long time. Fortunately his calluses protected his hands from the brunt of it, but they weren't thick enough to keep his hands from running red. Then again, he was impressed that the ropes hadn't snapped beneath his weight. Time apparently didn't affect everything poorly.

The impact of his feet to the ground sent a shockwave up his body, but he didn't stop for more than a moment. He pulled his phone from his pocket the second his arms were free, and he rushed over to summon the elevator.

"That's weird." He said to himself. He hadn't seen the elevator be used since they last left the factory. That was over a decade ago. His thoughts were quickly pushed away as his phone call was answered.

"Ulrich, we're almost there!" Said Jeremy, out of breath. "We took the sewers, we'll be at the factory in a couple of minutes!"

"I'm waiting for the elevator now." He replied. "But I think someone's been here. The elevator was down when I got to it."

"Do you think that-"

"Xana? Maybe. I don't know. Let's just get this done, and pray that Aelita was just seeing things."

"I would've been seeing things too Ulrich, but this felt real. It busted open one of our computers." Ulrich fell silent. He thought about it, contemplating anything he could think of to disprove his fears. He couldn't think of anything.

"Just get here as soon as you can." He finally said. "Yumi's on the way too, we'll get this taken care of." Just as he was taking the phone from his ear, the elevator slid back up to the surface. Ulrich stepped in, and just as quickly as it had risen, the tram started its descent.

Max was scrambling with his back against the wall, his feet scraping against the floor in an attempt to flee from this shadowy specter. His pleading words had long since turned into incoherent babbles, and his eyes were beginning to grow red with terrorized tears. The ghost that towered over him showed no sign of mercy or humanity, and it's glitching amorphous form only lumbered forward. There was no facial expression that he could see, and the hands were beginning to sharpen into rounded claws. The only sound he could hear behind the static was a sort of low growling, as though the creature were intelligent enough to know that it wanted blood.

The growl was interrupted. Behind the monster, there was the sound of electricity, followed by a sound that Max had gotten used to; the sound of the elevator. The specter twisted around, and it was met with a sight that it didn't care for. Max could see through its form, but only enough to make out a human body that was running very quickly towards them both.

"Eat this!" The body drove his arm forward, and a fist broke through the ghastly form, enough to temporarily shatter it into mist. Max didn't see much beyond that, as the second he had control of his body, it crumpled into a ball, holding its legs against its chest and softly quivering. The man spent very little time wallowing in accomplishment. He knelt down, gently shaking Max's shoulder. "Hey, kid, are you alright?" Max looked up with red misty eyes. He looked around, just to make sure that the monster was gone, before slowly nodding. "Good, cuz I might need your help."

"Still no word?" Asked Trisha. Arno nodded.

"Still nothing." There'd been no word from Max for the past few minutes. Even when he didn't have an answer, there was still some form of explanation or affirmation that he was listening. Now, there was nothing.

"Does that normally happen?"

"Not at all. He might not speak French but he's as much of a chatterbox as Jonah is sometimes."

"Why thank you!" Jonah quipped. Arno didn't bother responding. Right now, all they had to do was wait for something to happen. They'd been standing around the strange tower for just as long as Max had been silent, but there'd been no trace of any monster or oddity.

"Does something normally happen before the monsters appear?"

"Right now, you know about as much as I do." Arno replied. "They come out of the sky, but they have to load for a second before they can do anything."

"You mean like that?" Trisha's arm shot out, her finger pointed off into the distance. There, a shape was beginning to take form. "What is that thing?"

"I don't know. It just looks like a giant box?"

The distant shape of a box was indeed starting to take form, about 50 or so meters out. First its shape was defined, then its colors became clear. Then it was materialized.

This new creation was nothing more than a box, with a few tiny legs on its underside. It looked like it was made of sandstone, but at the center of each of its horizon-facing-faces was a white sphere embedded into it, bearing that same strange shape that Arno and Jonah had seen on the Tarantulas. Whatever it was, chances are, it wasn't friendly.

Arno raised his arms to his chest, keeping his protective micro-shields close, but he didn't make it one step forward before Trisha stepped ahead of him, raising her shield to her own chest.

"Is that thing a friendly?"

"I doubt it." He reached to his back, and pulled out both of his maces to hold them by his side. He extended the spikes.

"I'm ready to defend."

"You seem pretty well adjusted."

"I could say the same about you." She replied. Arno shrugged.

"I still have my reservations. But I guess I've been through a lot." He leaned back, just enough to talk to the other two without taking his focus off of the block. "Hold steady. Oliver, get that thing out of the fight. Jonah, be ready to hop onto the offensive, alright?"

"You got it!" Jonah replied. He and Oliver stepped out just enough to keep an eye on the block, which was now being followed by three more of its kind.

"Oliver." Said Arno, but the boy was already notching an arrow.

With the projectile on his string, he waited for the perfect moment to strike. When it came, the block didn't even have time to see the arrow before it landed in the center eye. The creature staggered back, and exploded, sending fragments of its form across the ice. One was down, but there were three others on their way, and Oliver's second arrow missed its mark. The blocks were drawing closer, and they seemed to get faster the further along they went. Another arrow whizzed by, and another block fell, leaving only two with a rapidly shrinking distance between the two parties.

Arno raised his hand.

"Hold your fire. Jonah, take the right, I'll take the left, you two stay here and defend the tower." He took a step, but then reconsidered. He twisted about, and yelled out to Trisha. "Trade!" He called, giving her barely a moment's notice before he threw one of his maces in an underhanded arc. She dropped one of her shields in a panic to catch the mace, and upon hitting the ground it happened to slide over to Arno's foot. "Thank you." He said, slapping his foot down on the rim of the shield. It flipped upward, slipping out from under his boot, and he caught it at eye level. "Alright Jonah, let's go." He ordered, resuming his pace towards the blocks with Jonah hot on his heels.

"Just so you know," Said the boy, struggling to keep up with Arno's quick pace, "that looked awesome."

"Thank you." He replied. "It would've been even cooler if I had meant to do that."

Arno held Trisha's shield high, keeping it at the ready to deflect any stray blaster bullets. He was able to block a majority of them, but the ones that he couldn't shield were easily avoided by him and Jonah, who stuck very closely behind him, waiting for him to give the word. The two approached quickly, even causing the blocks to cease their pursuit and hold their ground. A few more laser bolts later, the two were ready to strike.

"Now!" Arno called. He and Jonah dove in different directions as two more laser bolts were fired off. Before the blocks even had a chance to charge up another attack, Jonah threw a fireball at the center eye of the right block, and Arno had lodged the spikes of his mace in the eye of the left. The both exploded just as the first two had done, and after a few moments their remnants vanished too.

"Good job Jonah." Arno congratulated the boy with a pat on his shoulder. "Now let's get back to the others."

Before they had even turned around, they heard Trisha yelling after them.

"Arno! Jonah!" She called. They turned, and saw that the other two had company.

Oliver stuck to Trisha's backside as the two backed away from the tower, followed by three flying worm-like creatures with the wings of dragonflies. They were quick, agile, able to swirl around through the air fast enough to dodge Oliver's arrows, and every so often they would launch a red hot bolt from their tails.

"Jonah, go! Fireball them out of the air if you can!" He pushed on Jonah's back, shoving him a few steps into a run while Arno cupped one hand to his mouth, with the other around the rim of Trisha's shield. "Trisha!" He yelled, his voice echoing across the ice. She turned, between the blocking of blaster bolts, with a worried expression across her face. She saw Arno, with the shield readied like a frisbee, and she pulled herself and Oliver down to the ground.

Arno took a few steps forward, and after pulling his arm as far back as he could, he spun the disk through the air so hard that it almost popped his shoulder. The disk soared through the air, waving above Jonah's head as it barreled towards the flying creatures. It struck the center one, instantly destroying it, and the other two began to swirl around, shocked and stunned, before a fireball from Jonah wiped the others out.

After making sure his shoulder was still attached to him, Arno took off towards the others, both to make sure they were alright, and to reclaim his other mace.

"Are you all ok?"

"Yeah, thanks to you two." Trisha replied. She stooped down to help Oliver up, and even after he was, she kept a hand on his shoulder, until her eyes went wide and she screamed.

"Look out!" Trisha shoved past arno, and her shield just barely blocked another laster, but not from a block or a flying creature. Instead, it came from a pair of tarantulas.

They moaned and croaked to each other as they fired, and the lasers were almost enough to push Trisha back, but she was smart enough to know how to hold her ground. She waited for just the right moment, when the blasters ceased their firing, then with a grunt she shoved her shield into the ice. It cracked, and gave way beneath her weight. She then placed her other shield on top, and when the firing squad continued, it failed to push her back.

"Jonah, fireball between them so that Oliver can get a clear shot!"

"I'm on it!" The boy held his staff close, and the tip was igniting.

"Fireball!" His words summed a ball of flame to the tip of his weapon, and he rolled out into the open for just long enough to blast a sphere of flames into the open air. Before the fireball had even reached its destination the firing had stopped, and Oliver spun out of hiding. He notched another arrow, took aim, then he fired. The fireball was a perfect distraction, and one of the tarantulas was dispatched with ease, leaving one one other. This was was slightly more evasive, but only slightly; two more arrows were expended, with the second one hitting the mark in its forehead. It gave off one final groan, and then it died.

At last, the group was met with a haunting silence. If nothing else, it gave them time to catch their breath.

"Is it normal to have to fight this many?" Asked Trisha.

"This is a first for us." Arno replied. He took a moment to scan the horizon. "The monsters aren't normally this abundant. Something's probably up."

"It's fun though!" Said Jonah. He skipped out into the open, humming a little tune under his breath. "This is one of the best games I've ever played!"

"Don't get cocky, kid." Arno ordered. Jonah's skipping came to a halt, but the humming continued. "We don't know if they're coming back, or how many others there'll be."

"Hey! Hey!" The sudden ringing of a voice from the sky was enough to startle all four of them. Each one of the children almost fell over from surprise, and Oliver immediately leapt to Trisha's side. The voice belonged to Max, but the sudden start and high volume wasn't appreciated by any of them.

"Max!" Arno's voice came out as a roar. "Where've you been?"

"Bad!" Max shot back. "Later, horses are coming!" Arno gave the heavens a silent and frustrated glare.

"What the hell does that mean?!" Max offered no response. Arno's hands flew up to his sides with a huff.

"Horses are coming?" Asked Trisha.

"I like horses!"

"Shut up Jonah."

"Not now Jonah." Trisha and Arno shot back.

"What? They're cool!" Arno didn't have the time to shoot him down again before they heard something else.

A sort of skittering could be heard across the ice, like the sound of a block when it was walking, but this sound was much lighter, and significantly faster. After a lot of looking around, Jonah finally spotted, and pointed out to the group, a rather small monster that was making its way across the ice. It was small, about the size of the flying things from a few minutes back, but the back of its body was covered in small spikes, and its legs looked something like a spiders. It had one single eye in the center of its brown prickly body, and that damn symbol was on display across its forehead. It was a symbol Arno was getting tired of seeing. He stepped out, ready to deal with it. However, upon stepping into view, he was met with not one, but five of the creatures. He was so tired of that symbol.

He immediately scrambled backwards, as the second the creatures eyed him, their eyes began to glow. He needed to be closer than he was now to deal with them. They fired, but Trisha heard the noise, and was there to block the bolts. They were softer than those of the tarantulas, so even taking five of them wasn't enough to knock her down. She turned to Arno, and with a nod, they both understood what to do.

She moved forward, crouched low to the ground, taking as many of the bolts as she could until they were finally close enough.

"Spin!" Arno ordered. Trisha spun around, and Arno stepped forward to fill the vacated space, swinging his mace into all five of the little vermin creatures. With that single arc of his arm, all of them were obliterated, but as the sound of more footsteps told them, they were far from done. More monsters were approaching, this time from ahead, and far off to the left.

"More?!" Trisha sounded just as exhausted as Arno felt, but he didn't show it like she did.

"Looks like it." He replied. There were two more blocks coming from each direction, four in total. "Shield." He reached out one hand, onto which she laid one of her shields, which he exchanged for a mace. They held their weapons at the ready, but holding out against the monsters was becoming more and more of a hassle. Arno wasn't certain how much longer they would be able to hold their ground if they continued to spawn.

"Arno! Trisha!" Jonah called out to them, panic rising in his voice. They turned, and saw that both Jonah and Oliver were being pushed away from the tower by a new pair of monsters. These ones were different than before; large salmon colored disks suspended by four long armored legs. The top of their heads bore the familiar symbol, and at the front of their thinly sliced heads were a set of eyes, out of which Arno presumed they could fire even more lasers. The two creatures lumbered forward, and the few fireballs that Jonah shot up to them were either blocked by their armored limbs, or they simply smashed against the creature's underside with no effect.

Jonah and Oliver were being pushed away from the tower, and neither Arno nor Trisha could deal with the other monsters without taking their attention away from the blocks. As usual, Arno had a plan, but he wasn't sure it would work.

"Trisha do you think you could launch Oliver up?"

"I don't think so. Even if I could it wouldn't be very high." The two examined the four monsters that were closing in on their position. The blocks were starting to charge their attacks; even if Arno moved back to defend the other two, he would more than likely be hit by the crossfire of all six of the monsters. He wouldn't make it further than a few paces before he would be shot to death, whatever death was in this virtual world.

"I don't see any good options here." He confessed to Trisha. The two drew closer together, almost standing back to back.

"You and me both. Here, hand me my shield. I'll run back with you and try to cover us while we make it back to the others." Arno moved to return Trisha's shield to her, but before he could move, they both heard a voice that was didn't come from Jonah or Oliver.

"Impact!"

The two allowed themselves to be distracted for a moment, enough to turn and see one of the disks explode in a flurry of scraps. A vague and quick moving shape leapt from the top of the monster before it had exploded, and immersed in a strange yellow aura, it was very quickly making its way over to Arno and Trisha. Although it took a few seconds to recognize, Arno was certain that the man looked familiar.

He stopped just before them, skidding to a halt on the ice.

"I don't remember ordering seafood." He said.

"Who are you?" Arno stepped in front of Trisha. The man gave a two finger salute just under a head of dark brown hair, and above a face covered in tiny stubble hairs. He looked like some sort of unarmored samurai; dark brown knee-high boots, yellow headband, and a uniform of yellow and brown with leather armor on his shoulders and arms, and with two katana blades, one sheathed on his back, the other in his hand.

"Ulrich Stern." He said. The name rung a bell in the back of Arno's mind.

"The gym teacher?!" He said, in disbelief. He opened his mouth to ask another question, but the skittering of the approaching blocks were a bit more pressing. "Go deal with the other monster back there, Trisha and I will handle the blocks." He ordered. Ulrich, however, seemed to have other plans.

"Or," he said, drawing his other blade, "I could show you how a Lyoko veteran handles things." Before Arno or Trisha could question him, he gave off a shout. "Triplicate!" Suddenly, he dashed off in three separate directions. Arno almost couldn't believe his eyes, but three Ulrichs were taking off at incredible speeds, two in the directions of the blocks, and the third running back towards the other creature. Within three seconds, all of the Ulrich's had drawn their blades, and both pairs of blocks, along with the unidentified monster, were gone in a flash.

"Come on." Arno tugged at Trisha's arms, and the two of them started to run back to Oliver and Jonah.

"That's so cool!" They heard Jonah singing Ulrich's praises before they had even reached the tower. "How did you do that? Can I do that? Can we all do that?"

"Slow down kiddo." Said Ulrich, sheathing his blades. "Right now we have a mission to complete. After that, I have a lot of questions for you all." He then turned his head skyward, and addressed someone else. "Yo Jeremy, you there?"

"I hear you Ulrich."

It was a very familiar feeling, sitting in the chair again after all these years. Although he was a bit rusty, his fingers felt right at home on the computer keys. He'd been there for a few minutes already, checking the primary systems and attempting to figure out what exactly was going on. Meanwhile, the kid who'd introduced himself as Max was watching with wide eyes as he watched one of the computer science teachers work a super computer like it was nothing.

Every expectation that he'd had upon reaching the factory had been shattered. He'd expected to find Lyoko empty, yet there were four children already in the world fighting monsters. He wasn't certain if this reassured him, or if it discouraged him. Nonetheless, he continued his work, and before long he had a full view of the field that surrounded the others.

Ulrich was at its center, and the four children surrounded him. He heard the sound of shockingly casual conversation, along with the general ambiance of Lyoko itself, and the hum of the red tower.

Seeing so many people on Lyoko, Jeremy had thought it unwise to send everyone available, so Yumi stayed behind trying to make sense of what Maxwell was trying to say at any given time. Aelita, however, was immediately sent down the the scanner room. There was no time to lose. He wasn't certain if or when the specter would return, but they had to be ready for when it did.

There was a sense of dread instilled in his chest as his fingers scanned the keys, trying to get a good sense of what was happening. One of the towers had been activated in the ice region, but how strong it was, was something he didn't have enough information to answer. Instead, he simply kept a close eye on the situation, waiting for Aelita to touch ground.

"Aelita, are you there?" He asked. He had started the virtualization process for her, but there was some sort of error. It said she wasn't even in the scanner. "Aelita!" Just after he'd called out for her, he heard her from down below.

"Jeremy!" She called. There was panic in her voice. Jeremy was out of his chair in a split second, and in just one more he was sticking his head down the hole that led to the scanner room.

Aelita stood in the very center of a massive mess of scrap metal, at the border of which was a flurry of sparks emanating from the wires that used to be connected to the scanners. Now, they were only connected to the air, and the scanners had been reduced to scrap in the time between Ulrich had virtualized himself, and now. Aelita couldn't set foot on Lyoko.

"So how about you explain things while your friends do what they need to do?" Asked Arno, his arms crossed over his chest. Ever since Ulrich had arrived, the ice had been mostly silent. There hadn't been a single new monster in a few minutes, and even still, he'd failed to explain anything. Arno wasn't sure what he was waiting for, but even the simplest explanation would still suffice.

"I said I would explain everything when all of this was said and done." Ulrich shot back, not even bothering to glance in Arno's direction.

"And when will it be said and done? I don't see your friends anywhere." Ulrich didn't respond to this. Instead, his eyes continued to scan the horizon. He called up to Jeremy again.

"Jeremy?"

"Ulrich, we have a problem." Jeremy's voice came across in a highly worried tone, and in the background everyone could hear heavy steps being taken back and forth. "The scanners are down. All of them. We can't get to Lyoko."

"That means we can't get back." Said Arno. Jeremy's silence on the other end was as much of a confirmation as Arno needed. "Who broke the scanners? Why? What's going on?" Arno pushed Jeremy for an answer, but he and Ulrich carried on casual conversation as though he weren't even there.

"Can a return to the past fix it?"

"Well, yes, but the tower is still active, and making Xana more powerful in the middle of an attack is super risky, we don't know what he'll be able to do."

"But is it worth a shot?"

"I think we have to try it. What else can we do?"

"And the scanners are broken beyond repair?"

"Whatever that specter did, it'll take a week to get it back up and running. We don't have that time."

"If you two are done, I think that we'd like to know what the hell is happening!" Arno stomped his foot into the snow, sending a flurry of snowflakes into the air, and drawing Ulrich's agitated attention.

"Then I'll tell you this once, got it?" He continued without waiting for a response. "You kids just so happened to wake up an old computer virus that can mess with the outside world, so we have to clean up after you! But Aelita is the only one who can deactivate the tower, but that virus that you guys woke up just so happen to destroy her only ticket to Lyoko!"

"Wait, so this is a bad thing?" Asked Jonah. He turned and looked the tower up and down, scanning his eyes along the pure white surface and the red smoke it spat out. "Oh that's easy then! It's like a boss then!" Everyone turned to the boy just in time to see him raise his staff into the air, and both Ulrich and Arno shot their arms out, simultaneously yelling 'no!', but it wasn't enough to stop the boy. His staff collided with the tower.

Suddenly, the entire structure began to glow white, and his staff, followed by the rest of him, was quickly swallowed by the tower with a yelp.

"Jonah!" Arno yelled, his feet carrying him a few steps to the tower. He planted his hands on the black surface of its roots, and much to his surprise, the same glow began to spread from his hands while his body was pulled inside.

Unable to stop himself from being pulled into the tower, he braced himself. He didn't know what was on the other side, but he did know that whatever it was, it probably wasn't good.

At last, Arno felt the pull release him, and he stood in the middle of some sort of digital tube, with a myriad of light blue screens separating them, from a black void. The ground he stood on felt otherworldly compared to the outside world. It was grey and white, and it bore that same damn symbol that Arno was growing tired of, but that wasn't the focus of his attention.

Jonah stood at the center of the circle, his eyes moving everywhere except for the data pannel that had popped up before him. Arno was far too frustrated with the boy to point it out.

"You lunatic!" He exclaimed, taking a few angry steps in the boys direction. "I swear you're going to get yourself killed, or worse! Did you even know what was inside this thing, do you even know what this thing is for?!" Even with a tight grip on his shoulder he couldn't get Jonah to focus on anything, and when he at last turned to face him, he saw a smile on his face. He pointed forwards, towards the pannel that hovered in the air before him.

"I found something!"

For a moment, Arno was dumbfounded. Nothing could faze this child. He wasn't sure if he were impressed by that or not. Nonetheless, Arno looked with Jonah towards the control pannel. It was empty, save for a few windows that were running some strange program. Neither of them could figure out what exactly what it was for, but it seemed important.

"Just don't touch it yet, got it?"

"Got it." Said Jonah, tapping the screen a few times with his fingers.

"Jonah I swear!" Arno gripped the boys shoulders and tried to tug him away, but all he did was knock the boy off balance. With a yell, he fell backwards, and then forwards again, and his palm slapped flat on the screen.

For a moment, there was nothing but an affirmative noise, followed by four rounded corners that surrounded the handprint on the screen. Then, something happened.

The screen glitched. Its borders were suddenly null, as though it were broken, but then it quickly fixed itself, and a couple lines of text began to appear letter by letter.

 _Code Glitch_.

Arno watched the screen with a mix of fear and curiosity. The text remained on the screen for some time, but after a while it faded away, and the data screens around them began to fall into the void beneath them. The sudden blackness sent a chill down Arno's spine, and he softly placed his hands on Jonah's shoulders.

"Come on, lets get out of here."

Jeremy watched his computer screen with disbelief. The tower was deactivated. The red aura that it had worn just moments before was gone, as in typical fashion, the super scan went dark again.

"Ulrich, tell me I'm not seeing things." He said. His hand roughly tapped his cheeks a few times, as though he were trying to make sure he wasn't asleep.

"You're not. The tower's been deactivated."

"How? What happened? You said that the two kids went in, and then suddenly the tower went dark?!"

"Yes! That's exactly what happened!" Ulrich replied. Jeremy was speechless. He wasn't certain what to do, but he knew that after that, he needed some answers.

He watched his on screen radar as the two kids emerged from the tower, one after the other. They started talking. Jeremy slipped his glasses off of his nose, and rubbed the bridge while trying to process what he'd just seen.

Xana was back, there was no questioning that, but just as they'd experienced their first Xana attack in 20 years, a group of children appear with the ability to solve the problem. If he hadn't just seen them do it, he wouldn't have believed it, but right now wasn't the right time to stand on ceremony. He knew that all four of them would remember everything now, all except for the Maxwell, but he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. However, no matter what, it was time for a return to the past.

"Everyone, brace yourselves. I'm launching a return to the past." Before he'd typed in the command, he'd heard the voices of three of the four children, but he didn't process exactly what they were saying. He wrote out the code, and then with the click of a button the world began to wash with a pure white light. It was a sensation that Jeremy hadn't felt in years.

Authors Notes:

20 pages in google docs. If any of you were waiting for this chapter I really hope it delivered, because I really felt shaky about this one at the 17 page mark, but I felt like spoiling you all with a long chapter anyways. The pacing might feel off, but honestly, that's because it seemed like y'all wanted things to speed up a bit, and for the conflict to really start, so here it is; the first Xana attack, and the first time the whole group meets. If I seem slow to upload at all, that's because I'll either be working on my YouTube or Twitch content, or I'll be writing my own Novel; a short story anthology.

Leave your thoughts if you feel so inclined, I'd love to hear what you all think.

If you feel like making any donations, **and doing so would not put you at risk,** the link to do so is pay name is BlueWing10


	8. Chapter 8- Explanation and Exploration

"So." Jeremy had asked. "What do you know about Lyoko?"

Those words had haunted Arno for the past week, even long after both groups had discussed the topic at great lengths.

"Next to nothing." Arno had replied, which was the truth that had scared him for a month now. He knew next to nothing about this strange world that they'd discovered.

Jeremy had sighed at his reply. It wasn't the sort of response that Arno had hoped for. Even now, as he sat in class, he remembered the discussion that had occured a week prior. He flashed back to that memory, as he'd been doing for the past few days. Class couldn't be less important to him in these moments.

All nine of them had gathered in the heart of the factory, huddled around the super computer like explorers around a fire. The adults all stood with grim expressions painted on their faces, silent, wearily staring at the children. Arno recognized a few of them. Jeremy was one of the science teachers, the computer science teacher, to be exact. Aelita, his wife, was the general science and math teacher, with whom he was more familiar with. Ulrich, who stood with arms crossed over his chest, was the gym teacher, the same one who'd been seemingly keeping an eye on Arno for the past few weeks. Lastly, there was his wife, Yumi, who none of the students recognized. They looked stern, and all of them, with the exception of Jeremy, were silent.

"What is Lyoko?" Arno asked, breaking the silence. The adults all exchanged glances, as if unsure whether or not they should answer, but at this point, answers were all Arno wanted.

One moment, he'd been standing on the ice, fighting monsters and demanding answers, and the next, his vision was white, and he was back in his dorm room. One phone call later, he, Jonah, Trisha, and Oliver were each trying to find Maxwell, and when they did, he seemingly didn't remember a thing. They tried to recount to him the events of the previous day, but there wasn't a thing that he remembered. Arno remembered, very vividly, the moment he checked his phone after that conversation. The date was the same, as if time hadn't passed for 24 hours. Then it hit him.

"This computer can send us back in time." Said Arno. "This thing can send us to a virtual world where we fight monsters, it can apparently erase memories, what the hell else can thing do?!" His tone rose more and more with each passing word, and it quickly became clear to Jeremy that there would be no getting out of this conversation. He leaned back in his seat, contemplating things as his gaze turned to the ceiling. All of the adults seemed to avoid Arno, as they looked at anything but the children. At last, Arno had had enough. "Answer me!" His voice turned to a scream as his face scowled. Finally, Jeremy sighed.

"Listen." He ordered, leaning forward and pointing a finger at the children. "What I'm about to tell you, you can't tell anyone else, ever. If you can promise me that you won't tell a soul, then I'll tell you everything that we know about this." Arno turned back to the others, and to Jonah specifically. Oliver nodded, and Trisha stepped forward.

"I won't tell anyone." She confirmed. Max gave a thumbs up, and all eyes turned to Jonah, who began to look between them.

"What?" He asked. "Why's everyone looking at me? I know how to keep a secret!" He drew two fingers across his lips, and then made a throwing motion. For once, his mouth remained shut. They all turned back to Jeremy, who sighed again. He leaned forward more, placing his elbows on his knees.

"Alright then. I'll tell you everything that I know about Lyoko."

Arno couldn't believe half of what he'd heard. Over the next few days, after listening to the story, the only thing he could convince himself of, was that they were all in over their heads.

"It was about 40 years ago now." Jeremy had explained. "A man named Franz Hopper was involved in a military weapons program, one that could disrupt enemy communications. He decided that this weapon was too dangerous when he saw it in action, so he decided to make a weapon of his own." Jeremy tapped a knuckle against the computer screen behind him. "A weapon by the name of Xana."

"Xana had been created to destroy project carthage." Aelita said, picking up the explanation where Jeremy had left off. "But that multi-agent system was very advanced, and before long, it was making decisions for itself. Xana became self aware, and when my father tried to deal with him, the program retaliated."

"Franz Hopper was your father?" Asked Trisha. Aelita nodded.

"He virtualized the two of us onto Lyoko whenever the secret service became aware of what we were doing. He tried to reason with Xana, but in the end, he was taken prisoner, and I was trapped on Lyoko until Jeremy found this place and started everything up."

"And what's Xana's goal? What is it trying to do?" Asked Arno.

"World domination." Answered Ulrich, with a shrug. "Pretty standard supervillain stuff, really."

"And what makes this program so dangerous? What is it capable of?"

"Lots of stuff." Said Ulrich, before Jeremy continued.

"Xana can manipulate electric currents in the real world by activating those towers that you saw on Lyoko. Think of it like a key. A tower activates, and Xana can access our world. He can possess people, inanimate objects, he can create specters, and control just about anything electronic. This virus is one of the most dangerous things on planet earth, just shy of planet earth herself."

"How stop illness?" Asked Max. Everyone turned and stared.

"Well," Aelita started, "We killed him before, but it took a multi agent system that took months to develop, and every time we return to the past, he gets stronger. I'm not sure how we'll beat him this time. I'm not even sure how he managed to survive the antivirus 20 years ago."

"But he **can** be stopped." Said Arno, stepping forward. "You stopped him once. We just have to know how to counter. All we have to do is deactivate towers, right?" Jeremy and Aelita exchanged a quick glance.

"In short, yes." Said Jeremy. "But that leads us to a very important question." All of the adults' eyes turned to Jonah. "What do YOU know about Lyoko?"

The ringing of the bell snapped Arno out of his thoughts, but he was quick to recover. He packed his things, and was the first one out of the doors when they opened. He marched across the courtyard. It was lunch time now, and the children had all agreed to meet while they ate.

Arno was the first to arrive, followed quickly by Trisha and Oliver, then Maxwell, and lastly, Jonah.

They sat in silence for some time, poking nervously at their food, waiting for someone to speak up. As usual, Arno was the one to break the silence.

"What have we gotten ourselves into?" He bemoaned, holding his head in the palm of one of his hands. "We have no idea what we're really up against here, do we?" Oliver was, as usual, silent. He looked to Trisha to speak, which she did.

"Whatever it is, I'm just glad I'm not fighting it alone. We're stronger together. Whatever this thing is, we can take it."

"What makes you so sure?" Asked Arno. "What experience do you have, fighting rogue AIs?"

"About as much experience as you do." She retorted.

"I have about a month's more time than you."

"And yet we both kicked about the same amount of ass on the ice fields."

"That means nothing when we're fighting monsters. They said this thing can access the real world, possess people and animals alike. What do you do when that happens? What if this thing possesses one of us? What can it do, that they're not telling us?"

"Well," Jonah interrupted, "it's obviously not all powerful, right?" All of them turned to the boy. "It hasn't blown up the school, and outright killed any of us. As long as we're all here, we have a chance." Arno and Trisha fell silent. They each knew he was right, but Arno didn't like it, and Trisha didn't know how to continue. Meanwhile, Maxwell nodded with a hand on his chin.

"Boom boom zoom zoom." He said. Arno leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest and huffing out of his nose.

"I really don't like that you're right about that."

"I'm right about a lot of stuffs." He replied with a smile. "You would know if you listened from time to time."

"I know you're right about some things, but you're also a lunatic who would jump into a fire to cure a cold." Arno's words had no impact, and the boy flashed him a wide grin before taking a few bites of his food.

"We can fight thing is we work together." Said Trisha. "Although, Jonah, are you sure you have no connection to that thing?"

Trisha's question brought Arno back to the conversation from a few days prior, and his thoughts drifted away, until he was back in the factory with every pair of eyes glued to him as he demanded answers.

"What do YOU know about Lyoko?" Jeremy had asked Jonah, but the boy couldn't reply. It had been abundantly clear that he knew nothing about Lyoko, or anything surrounding it, but that didn't change the fact that Jonah had successfully deactivated a tower. The words 'Code Glitch' were still seared into Arno's mind.

"I don't know anything." Jonah finally said. Only in times like these, was Jonah a man of few words.

"Can you figure out how it happened?" Asked Arno. Jeremy shrugged.

"Maybe." His eyes then turned to Aelita, who throughout this entire conversation had been visibly uncomfortable. "But not right now. For now, I need to get Aelita home." With that, he stood from his chair, and took Aelita by the hand. "This has been a bit of a long day." He turned to Ulrich and his wife. "Ulrich, Yumi, can you stay with them, talk to them, tell them what you know?" They both nodded.

"Of course. We'll help them get adjusted." Yumi said, speaking for the first time since the two groups had met. With nothing more than a nod, Jeremy and Aelita left the room. They boarded the elevator, the doors closed, and that was the last that they saw of them for the next few days.

"Arno? Arno!" Trisha's calling shook Arno out of his thoughts, and he came back to reality with a start. "Are you alright?"

"Just thinking." Arno replied. "There's been a lot to think about." Trisha nodded.

"Yeah. That's something we can agree on." She leaned in, lowering her voice as though scared that the other students around them would hear her. "So, I guess we're officially Lyoko warriors now. That's what Mr. and Mrs. Ishiyama called us, right?" Arno scoffed.

"We're not Lyoko warriors. We're just kids who got caught up in something that's way bigger than us."

"But I like that name!" Jonah exclaimed. He then threw a hand up into the air. "We're the-!" Arno clamped a hand over his mouth, and Trisha quickly silenced him with a finger to her lips. The eyes of the entire lunchroom were on them for a moment, but then the children turned back to their food.

"Remember, Jonah," Arno hissed, "we need to keep this a secret. Don't blow this." Jonah nodded his head meekly. Arno turned back to address the full group. "We're not warriors. We're kids. This isn't our fight."

"But we're the only ones who know about this. This IS our fight." Trisha urged, but Arno wasn't convinced.

"And why can't we get the military involved again?"

"You heard what Ulrich and Yumi said. The military, the government, they would try to control this thing, and they can't; it would destroy them."

"And what's keeping it from destroying us?" Trisha shrugged.

"It has to be something. Yumi said that Xana seems really weak."

"That means that it's powering up."

"That means that, for now, it's still weak. We have time to kill it, now more than ever."

Arno leaned back with a huff. Every point he had seemed to be counterable, and it didn't help that Trisha seemed to have a point. He couldn't think of anything else to say, so he simply stared ahead. Finally, he came to a conclusion.

"Well then." He said. "I guess we are Lyoko warriors." His voice came out as a resigned sigh, and he looked around the table towards the others. Then he leaned forward again, pressing his arms down onto the table as he brought his voice down to a whisper. "Then listen up. All of you." His gaze circled around towards the others, and he cast his eyes onto everyone one person at a time. "If we're going to do this, then we're not going in blind. We still don't know fully well what this thing is capable of. We don't know what it can do, but more than that, we don't know what WE can do. After school today, we're going back to Lyoko, and with their help, we're going to figure out exactly what we can do, understand?" He looked to the others. Oliver nodded, as did Jonah, Trisha, and Maxwell.

"That sounds like a plan." Said Trisha. Maxwell punched the air.

"Fire yes!" He cried out, soft enough only for it to be heard across the table. Jonah then did performed the same motion.

"Fire yes!" He said in the same volume. He then pushed a fist into the middle of the table, and Maxwell did the same. Then Trisha tapped her fist against those of the others.

"Fire yes!" She said. Oliver followed suit.

All of their hands were now connected at the center of the table, with the exception of a very reserved looking Arno. He watched their hands with no eagerness in his eyes.

"Listen." He said. "I appreciate you guys' spirit, but you all need to do what I say, when I say, how I say, understand?"

"Within reason." Said Trisha.

"I always do what you say!" Jonah quipped.

"Fire yes!" Maxwell chanted again. Arno sighed, and after a moment's hesitation, he too placed his fist on the center of the table, and connected it with theirs.

The unity was formed, and with their five hands connected, Arno felt a sense of relief, and a sense of dread. He had no idea what this force was capable of. He had no idea what he and his team was capable of. All he knew, was that if they were the world's hope, then the world was screwed, or at least it was currently screwed. However, through a great deal of training, and some help from the veterans, he hoped to turn the tides. Tonight, when they went back to the factory, he would start them down the path of being ready to fight this thing, whatever this thing was.

"First thing's first," Jeremy said, bringing the computer monitors to life, "We have to get Max virtualized. Not only will that give him an immunity to Xana and some of his attacks, but it'll also render him protected when we have to return to the past."

"So that's why he didn't remember." Said Arno. He stepped forward, keeping careful watch over what Jeremy was doing. "How is this computer able to travel back into the past?" Jeremy shrugged.

"I don't know. Franz Hopper is the one who built this thing, we just figured out how to use it." Arno was silent as Jeremy finished bringing up all of the windows he needed.

A few hours after school had ended, they all met up at the lab to talk and train. It was mainly Arno's idea, but aside from Aelita, everyone seemed on board.

"Alright, got it." Jeremy exclaimed, spinning the chair around to face everyone else. "So, who wants to go to Lyoko?" All at once, Arno, Jonah, and Trisha each raised their hands.

"What?" Asked Max. "Why up hand?" Instead of answering him, Arno grabbed Max by the wrist, and raised his arm. "Well ok, up hand is up hand." Meanwhile, Trisha laid a hand on Oliver's back, and gently spoke a few words that got him to raise his hand as well.

"Well, you guys seem eager." Said Ulrich, from the back of the room. "You guys remind me of us, back in the good old days."

"They don't sound all that good." Said Arno. Ulrich shrugged.

"I guess you would've had to be there." Then he turned to Jeremy "Are they ready to go?" He nodded.

"I have the virtualization process ready to go. As soon as you all are ready, head down to the scanner room. It's time to get you all to Lyoko."

Over the past few weeks, Max had virtualized Arno and Jonah enough times to know that the process was about as safe as could be, but that didn't stop him from eyeing the giant metal tube with weary eyes.

"Scared?" Arno asked from behind, with a clap on the back. Then he continued. "Don't worry. Just remember to take a deep breath before going in, alright?" Max nodded. Then, the tubes opened. Sensing his nervousness, Arno stepped in front of him. "I'll go first." He, Jonah, and Trisha each stepped into one of the tubes, and just as quickly, the doors slid shut. Within the span of half a minute, the machines began to roar and glow, and when they opened again, the people that the tubes had been holding were gone.

Max swallowed his fear to the best of his ability, and he took two shakey steps into the tube. It closed, and Max took in one deep breath before his world started to fade away.

From the very first moment, the only thing Maxwell thought was that he never wanted to be virtualized again. The sensation of not existing, of not being able to breath, of floating in an empty void was far from worth it in his mind.

At last, the sensation began to fade, and he felt himself reappearing piece by piece in a highly unfamiliar environment. He'd expected to be virtualized in the same sort of place that he'd brought Arno and Jonah into before, where ice spanned the environment as far as the eye could see, and the only two colors were dark blue and white. In this place, the horizon was constantly interrupted by brown pillars that stretched from their roots in the ground, up into the sky where they faded from view. Some of them were only a few feet apart, while others had some actual distance between them, and throughout the entire area were green grassy walkways that spanned the distance above a pale sand colored abyss that seemed to encompass the world around them.

As Maxwell spawned in, he saw the others gathering in a circle and talking in hushed tones. His first thought was that he wanted to join them, but that thought was almost immediately displaced when the force of gravity very suddenly began to act on his body. He fell from the sky with a loud thud, and an almost louder groan.

"Ah son of a Paul Bunion!" Max exclaimed, rubbing his sore tailbone. "That really smarts." He continued to rub his backside, but Jonah turned and pointed a finger.

"Max! You can speak french?!"

"Huh?" Max slowly rose from the ground, his eyes scanning the others as he started to run his mouth. "Peter Piper picked a patch of something I don't know the rest of this tongue twister can you guys actually understand me?"

"Great." Said Arno. "So now we have two people who can't shut up."

"At least we can understand him." Said Trisha.

Oliver laid a hand on Max's shoulder from behind him, and gestured to his body while offering him a reassuring smile. Max looked down, his gaze following the gesture, and he saw that his entire appearance had been given a major upgrade.

Much like Arno, his attire was mostly black with bits of white that were showing. The outer section of his arm was jet black, and composed of little plates and wires, while what laid beneath was a soft white fabric, that just barely showed between the plates. It covered his body from his neck, to his toes. He looked like something out of a dimly colored cyberpunk world.

"Oh hell yes!" He cried out, upon getting a full look of his new attire. He spun around, trying to observe every inch of the outfit while the other stood back and watched. "This computer has given me a badass costume, AND it seems to have some sort of auto-translation function! This is awesome!"

"What's your weapon?" Asked Jonah, prompting Max to stop spinning.

"Well," He said, stretching out the word as he tried to find where his weapon was holstered, "I don't mean to brag, but Iiiiii haaaaave aaaaaa." He struggled to find the weapon, which sat securely on his hip, but the moment he spotted it, he yanked it out. "This!" He cried out, gesturing his hands towards a rather small pistol. "Oh." He groaned, raising an eyebrow as he examined the tiny weapon. Arno stepped forward.

"Can't always be a winner." He gave him two pats on the shoulder, and while Max was still investigating his weapon, Arno spoke to Jeremy. "Is anyone else coming in?"

"Just you guys for now. We've never had more than five people online at a time, so I'm just making sure that the machine can take it. I've gone ahead and virtualized you in the forest sector so that you can explore more of the world. If Xana really is back, then we're going to want to make sure that we're all familiar with Lyoko." He paused for a moment. "Now, I'm sure you all have a lot of questions, and I have a few of my own, but first, I think you all might enjoy these old toys." As soon as he'd finished talking, noises erupted from all around them, like an old machine starting up. The children all stepped closer to each other as in three spaces around them, shapes began to appear; vehicles, to be accurate. One was a mono-wheel motorcycle, another was a long purple and yellow board, while the third was a large platform with a handlebars at its front. They each hovered just a few inches off of the ground, waiting for them to step on.

"These look awesome!" Cried Max, taking a step onto the long board. He struggled for a few moments to retain his balance, but then moved the board forward, very slowly.

"I call shotgun!" Said Jonah, taking a step towards the moto bike, but Arno was quick to pull him back.

"Let's let the person who knows how to drive, handle the controls." He saddled the bike, gripping and twisting the handlebars before motioning to Jonah. "Come on." He did as he was told, and wrapped his arms around Jonah's middle as he took a seat. Lastly, Trisha took the controls of the final vehicle, and Oliver stepped on board with her.

"Is everyone settled?" Arno asked, struggling to turn his head to see everyone. They all nodded in response. "Alright then. Follow me, stick close, let's take these out for a spin." Arno revved the engine, feeling the bike shudder beneath him, but then he accelerated, and soon enough the ground was fading into the dusty atmosphere behind him. It felt good to get behind the wheel of a vehicle again.

"Alright, this is pretty cool." Said Arno. "How is everyone else doing back there?"

"I'm having a blast!" Max replied. "I love being able to fully understand everyone, and to be understood, at long last, is amazing!"

"We're doing alright back here." Said Trisha. "Any chance you could spawn some more vehicles next time?"

"I'd rather not push the system too much right now." Jeremy responded. "This thing hasn't been used in about 20 years. I want to see if we can go easy on it for the time being."

The group pushed on, and both ends of the conversation were silent for some time while the children became accustomed to the vehicles. Then, at last, Arno spoke.

"What can you tell us about this thing? About this place?"

"Besides what I've already told you, basically nothing." Jeremy replied. Only Franz Hopper has all the answers, and he's," Jeremy paused, "Well, we won't be able to get any answers from him. What I can tell you now, is that Lyoko is a vast digital expanse made up of what -was- five sectors. You've seen the ice sector, and this is the forest sector. You haven't seen the mountain or desert sectors yet, but it looks like Xana's been busy. I'm looking at four new sectors that we haven't ever seen before."

"So not only is the enemy not dead, but it's been working behind the scenes."

"That's what it looks like."

"Then how do we stop it?" Arno heard Jeremy sigh on the other end of the comms.

"The last time we killed, or supposedly killed, Xana, it was through a multi agent program that I developed, and that Franz Hopper assisted in."

"Can we run the program again?"

"We can try. I'll need a few days to run over the program again, but in the meantime, it looks like we're going to have to remain vigilant." He paused again. "You're a little ways away from a way-tower. It's a little ways east, so to your right. Make it there, and I'll see if that tower, and let's see where that leads you."

"You don't know where it'll drop us?"

"We didn't retain everything over the past 20 years. The only reason I can still remember any of the controls is because we did this thing for years. Plus, it looks like Xana's been busy, so he's bound to have some new tricks up his sleeve."

"Wonderful." Arno muttered. Jonah peeked his head out from behind him.

"If anyone can do it, it's us." He said.

"I second that." Trisha chimed in. Their confidence did nothing to put Arno at ease.

"Well alright then." He resigned. "Get us to that way tower Jeremy."

"Will do." He replied. "Like I said before, it's east of your location. Get there quickly if you can."

"Will do." Arno replied. He led the others in turning towards the east, and he twisted the handlebars to accelerate the bike. Within moments, they had the tower in their sights. "So we just go into this thing, right?"

"You and the vehicles will pass straight through." Jeremy confirmed. "Just go in, and the worlds gravity should take you straight down."

"Platform nine and three quarters!" Jonah cried out from behind.

"Yeah, let's just hope that it doesn't close up." Arno muttered. He sped up his bike even while his companions began to slow down. They were just as hesitant as he was, and he didn't blame them. Nonetheless, he continued forward, keeping his eyes on the base of the tower until he got close enough to seal them shut. He pulled back ever so slightly, just enough so that any impact wouldn't deal significant damage to either him or Jonah, but the moment the wheel touched the black roots of the tower, it, along with them, was dragged into the structure.  
Arno barely had time to comprehend the black void covered with pale blue windows before he and Jonah were thrown downwards into the abyss at the bottom of the tower. Jonah screamed, but Arno simply clenched his jaw. With one hand still on the controls, and the other reaching back to secure Jonah, he tried to pull up, but only when the two of them entered a sort of tube with data flowing to and from did the vehicle stabilize.

"I'm never doing that shit again." Arno spat, still recovering from the fall. Jonah said nothing, but simply groaned as his stomach recovered from the drop. The older boy turned around just in time to see the others take the plunge as well, and they handled it about as well as Arno had. "Are you all ok back there?"

"I'm alright!"Trisha replied. "As long as we don't have to do that again."

"I'll get back to you whenever my stomach returns to its rightful place in my insides!" Said Max.

"I miss the times when I couldn't understand what you were saying." Muttered Arno, just quiet enough for his words to fall into the void without being heard.

"Heads up everyone!" Jeremy's voice cut through the conversation. "You're coming up on what looks like a pathway. Get ready to pull up!"

Just as they were instructed, the children prepared to pull up on their controls. They saw an opening a little ways ahead, an empty circle that did indeed look as much like a pathway as it could. Arno tilted his machine upwards, and upon approaching the empty space, he was once again carried away, and up through the tunnel. The entire atmosphere around him became brighter and brighter, until at last he and Jonah ripped through the standard tower room, and out the side.

"Oh my god."

"Whoa! That's so cool!" Said the two boys. Before them stretched something that looked quite like the ice sector, except it was almost a polar opposite. The large pieces of land that floated within a sea of red and orange were black as coal, and rough as a piece of petrified tree bark. Everything from small pebbles to massive chunks of black stone were slowly sifting themselves across a lake of red hot magma that bubbled and popped at the surface, and the atmosphere was almost as red and hot as the sea.

"Jeremy, can you see any of this?" Asked Arno.

"Yeah, I can." Said Jeremy. He took his time, taking it all in. It looked very similar to the ice sector, but with a significantly more sinister look about it. It made Jeremy shudder, thinking that Xana could've made an entirely new sector. If that were possible, what else could Jeremy's old enemy have done?

"What do you make of it?" Arno interrupted his thinking, and Jeremy, again, took his time to respond.

"We have our work cut out for us." He finally responded. "Listen, don't touch that lava. I think that might just be a retexturing of the digital sea, so it's potentially very dangerous. The overboard, overbike, and overwing can fly over any surface, but if you see any monsters, steer over to land just in case the vehicle is shot."

"Sure thing. Anything else you can tell us?" Asked Arno.

"Only to be on the lookout for red towers and monsters. If Xana created new sectors, it's possible that he's created new monsters too."

"Duly noted." Said Arno, before falling silent. His eyes surveyed over the magma, and everything that was floating on its surface, but he had trouble believing that all of it was real. Everything felt surreal, and as his companions emerged from the tower with expressions and gasps of awe, he knew he wasn't the only one who felt like that. Once again, he affirmed his own conclusion. "We are in way over our heads." He said. He turned, slightly, and caught sight of the others, each one speechless as they took in the strange new environment, and Jeremy's lack of interruption seemed to indicate that he felt the same way. Every new detail that Arno saw only informed him further that whatever quest they were on wasn't going to be easy. Whatever they were up again would not go easy on them. "Come on." He said, kicking the overbike into motion. He guided the others towards a particularly large obsidian plateau, and upon setting the bike down, he motioned the others to follow.

"I'm sure you all know this by now, but whatever all of this is about, we've stepped into a world that we don't even know the basic functions of." He explained, walking swiftly over to the center of the landmass. "We are clueless. We are weak. We are going to get our asses handed to us." He continued, making sure that the others followed, but then stopped when he got to where he wanted to be. Then he turned around, and addressed the others to their faces. "We all agreed to this. We all said that we would do this, right?" He looked to the others for a response, and they all affirmed in one way or another. Then he drew his weapons, and held them at his sides. "Then if we're going to do this," he explained, "we're going to do this right." He lifted one of his maces towards Trisha. "Trisha, you're going to spar with me. Jonah, Oliver, Max, sit back and watch until it's your turn." He then stepped away, and readied his weapon as Trisha took a few uncertain steps forward. "You all elected to be here, and you all elected to listen to me. So now I'm going to do my part in making sure that you all are safe."

The children all settled in their places. Max, Oliver, and Jonah all stood off to the side, while Trisha looked at him with a smirk.

"Well look at you, mr. team leader." She said. He brushed off her comment, and instead simply prepared himself.

"Whenever you're ready Trisha." He said. "If we're going to do this, we might as well be as prepared as we can be."

Authors notes:

Leave feedback, l (if you feel like you can) is BlueWing10. I feel like I'm starting to pick things up a bit, so the story should take off running here pretty soon. If it feels like each chapter is a new writing style, that's because it is.

Just a reminder that I'm currently working on my own book as well, so if production of these chapters is a bit slow, that's why.


End file.
